Naruto: Rising Legend
by Blandusername
Summary: Naruto possesses an abundance of potential and talent. With help from the God of Shinobi himself Naruto will harness his full potential and along with his team. They'll change the Shinobi world. AU. Smart/Strong!Naruto. Re-write of Naruto Path of a Legend.
1. Small Beginnings

**_Okay preface time. Seeing as how this is the first chapter of a re-write I got stuff ta say. Most will be at the end though…_**

 ** _Now to this re-write/re-make/redo. My original intention in Path of a Legend was for Naruto to follow in the footsteps of the third. In all my stories Naruto takes after a Hokage in some form or another (Resurgence is obviously the First and kinda the fifth, Namikaze Naruto is the fourth, and Different Beginnings is the Second). This one Naruto will take after the third like a sort of successor or inheritor. Anywhos, onto the story. I promise this is the only AN that will be longer than a sentence or two at the beginning._**

* * *

 **Prologue:**

 **Chapter 1: Starting Small**

* * *

The Village Hidden in the Leaves was particularly nice this time of year, fall, when the leaves changed color giving the village a rusted orange glow that felt warm and inviting. Shops were open, civilians and shinobi alike were walking with skips in their steps for the annual festivities that were going to start coming around.

In the wake of the Kyūbi attack now nine years ago as of last month, the entire village was back to its' former glory. In some cases even better as those with the budget actually improved their estates during the rebuild. Things were looking up, mourning periods had past and people have started to move on from the tragedy on to better horizons. The Village Hidden in the Leaves was now rightful to call it self the strongest of the Great Five Villages. And with the Will of Fire everyone did their part to help their fellow countrymen and help those in need.

That was, when _that boy_ wasn't around. Most shinobi felt bad the boy- understanding that it was a cry for attention, he was quite loud and always hoping to gain any sort of acknowledgment no matter the form, be it acceptance or ridicule for one of his pranks. But others would only give him the cold shoulder and glares that would silence him when he was on the receiving end of them. The young boy grew up without many who would acknowledge him for who he was, rather than for the burden he carried.

One of the few in particular was the Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. The man that, in the wake of Minato Namikaze's death was forced to retake the position of Hokage as no suitable replacements were willing to take the position.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was one of the few first generation shinobi still alive, others being his teammates and former 'rival' Danzo Shimura, the Sandaime Tsuchikage and Hanzo of the Salamanders. They were the last few who were born before the village system was formed and the first to actual become shinobi through the system rather than through their respective clans.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was hailed by his father, Sasuke Sarutobi, as the greatest prodigy to ever come out of the clan. During his early youth he trained at the Konoha Shinobi Academy part time and with his summons the other half. His rapid learning rate earned the attention of Tobirama Senju, the fastest shinobi alive at the time and Genius Jutsu innovator. At the young age of ten Hiruzen and two others- Koharu Mitokado and Homura Utatane became Genin under the future Nidaime Hokage. It was noticeable at a young age that Hiruzen was different than his peers as he would quickly master any jutsu given to him by either his summons, family or sensei. Seeing his potential, Tobirama bestowed the title of Hokage to Hiruzen at the age of seventeen before giving his life to save his squad from an ambush during the first war.

Hiruzen was known throughout the continent as one of the greatest shinobi to ever live, for his mastery of all five basic nature transformations and his unrivaled knowledge on the battlefield. His skills had granted him the title _Shinobi no Kami_ during his prime for being the undisputed strongest shinobi alive, a feat only achieved by his predecessor the Shodaime Hokage and the fabled Rikudō Sennin.

Despite all the knowledge he possessed he could not seem solve the riddle of what to do with his late successors son. Naruto was an exceedingly bright boy, prodigious most likely, but all that was pushed aside by his need to be acknowledged and loved. Hiruzen knew that nobody else besides himself was going to do anything about the child's future, but he just couldn't figure out just what to do.

Maybe the boy needed an outlet, from the few examination at the academy the boy bothered to show up for he scored near or outright perfect scores. His Taijutsu left much to be desired as he was sloppy and unrefined, but as those who were unfortunate enough to be paired up against the boy during training spars, knew that it was good enough to leave them sore for days.

From what the Sandiame could guess Naruto lacked any sort of challenge in the academy, and without any reason to keep him there and nobody to scold him and force him to go he would rather skip out and do…well whatever it is he did in his free time. The Sandaime was better of being ignorant of that as it would ruin the surprise of the boys upcoming pranks that were quite entertaining to the elderly Hokage.

Perhaps it was time that Naruto be given a challenge, something to strive for, something to give him a purpose. With his bold declarations of becoming Hokage to those who asked, Hiruzen knew that the boy was serious about his shinobi career as he was far from stupid enough to think that the Hokage's position would be given to him without earning it. With that in mind Hiruzen pulled out his crystal ball to locate Naruto.

xXx

(Forests Outside Konoha)

It was often told that the forest surrounding Konohagakure no Sato was created by the Shodaime Hokage while utilizing his _Mokuton_ Kekkei Genkai. The large trees were several meters in circumference and were filled with an abundance of chakra that gave them the abilities to grow to full size at accelerated rates.

Naruto Uzumaki knew the history of the area he was in, but disregarded it as unnecessary knowledge used to inflate the already impressive history of the village.

The young boy was on his way to his favorite spot in the world, a clearing just outside of the village that was secluded enough that it was unknown to most as Naruto has never once been found there while hiding after one of his pranks. The area had a large lagoon that was surrounded by rocks and a clearing with enough space to be called a training ground, which it was by Naruto. This was known to the blond as Uzumaki Training Ground of Solitude, it was the only place that he could blow off steam by training without being disturbed, or kicked out by a Jōnin and his Genin for using a Shinobi training ground without permission.

While the tranquility of the secluded training ground was nice, it was being disturbed by the aggravated curses of the only human inhabitant as he furiously chased around a small monkey who had stolen his favorite pair of goggles while he was napping.

"Get back here!" Shouted Naruto as he tossed a pebble at the elusive ape who was happily dodging all of the projectiles while taunting its' adversary.

Getting an idea Naruto turned away from the monkey and started walking back toward the clearing, fully intent on giving up the chase. The small monkey was throw off by the sudden change and slowly walked towards the blond. Seeing that his plan worked Naruto spun around and pounced on the monkey grabbing his goggles and blowing a childish raspberry at the monkey for his victory.

Happy now that his precious goggles were back on his forehead Naruto took off his sandals and set his feet into the cool waters of the lagoon. The goggles were one of the gifts he was given by his Ji-chan, making them one of his most precious items. Naruto brushed off his blue shorts with a twitching eyebrow and sent a glare to the monkey, who was surprisingly sitting next to him with it's feet in the water like he was, for causing him to get dirty. His white shirt could more accurately be labeled as brown with all the dirt that accumulated in his chase.

The Uzumaki was quite upset with the latest turn of events, his birthday was a few weeks ago and like always the only people who bothered saying anything was Sandaime-Jiji and his favorite ramen stand owners. He was given his goggles by the old man and a coupon for a free meal at Ichiraku Ramen by the Ichiraku family. Which was safely secured at his apartment for a rainy day.

"I must commend you on your victory Naruto-kun."

Naruto shot from the his sitting position and whirled around to see the amused face of the Sandaime.

"Jiji! Don't do that!" Shouted Naruto with a slight blush on his cheeks for letting out a small 'eep' when he jumped. "Wait. How did you find me? I didn't think anyone knew about this place."

The Sandaime chuckled at the boy, Hiruzen had been coming to this very place ever since he was a boy with his team for training. The lagoon was where he was taught _Suiton_ manipulation by the greatest water user in history. But his young charge was right to assume he was the only one to know of the place as it had been only known to his team as their private training ground.

"No my boy, I am one of the few that do. As a Genin my team used this place to train long ago." Responded Hiruzen as he pulled out his pipe.

Naruto's eyebrows shot to his hairline after hearing that, he didn't know that his Training Ground of Solitude was actually that Sandaime's Training Ground of…cooperation? He'll think more on that later.

Instead Naruto sent a glare towards the monkey who was surprisingly quiet during the conversation so far.

"Yeah, that one stole my goggles. He was quick but I got him in the end." Naruto puffed out his chest when he finished, it was a hard fought battle as the monkey was surprisingly agile.

The Sandaime nodded at that, "Yes well he is expected to be quick so that when he grows up he will be a useful summon."

Naruto's head shot up and looked at the Hokage with disbelief. "That things a summon?! He couldn't even kill a squirrel!" The monkey took offense to that as it started squawking at the blond flinging it's arms around to emphasize it's point.

The Sandaime chuckled at the pair, they were both too prideful to back down. "Yes Naruto-kun, he is in fact a summon," The blond turned back to the Hokage to listen. "He is one of my Monkey Summons that inhabit the forests surrounding the village. They serve as a line of defense."

Naruto looked back at the monkey, re-evaluating the small ape's worth. "Huh, well that's cool I guess but what are you doing here?" Asked Naruto still not understanding why the Sandaime would want to come all the way out here just to tell him that.

"Yes well I have come with a proposition for you." Started the Sandaime and suppressed a chuckle at the undivided attention he was getting from the boy. "It has come to my attention that you have attended three of the last twenty-five academy school days. I know that you are unmotivated to attend so I have something to motivate you. If you go to class everyday for the next week and ace the exam at the end of it I will teach you a jutsu, one that I think will benefit you in the long run far more than any other."

Naruto deflated a little at hearing he was required to go to class everyday. The academy was far too boring for the blond, as he soaked up knowledge far too quick to stay attentive. It was like seeing that a painting was blue understanding the painting was blue then having to sit through a four hour lecture explaining the color of the painting. It's blue dammit he doesn't need to be told four thousand times to understand that! But pushing that aside, the tantalizing reward of a jutsu gave the blond enough incentive to nod towards the old man in acceptance.

xXx

(One Week Later: Academy)

Naruto didn't know why, but most of his classmates were sending him curious look all week. Granted he rarely showed up this consistently but they should take it in stride not gawk over him for coming to class. Especially since in the earlier days of the academy most of them would ignore him.

The past week was a complete waste of time in his opinion, jutsu theory was interesting but when half of the class was slow on the up take the lecture turned into never ending questions that usually amounted to 'how' over and over.

Surprisingly, on the second day of the week Taijutsu spars were scheduled and he was called out by half of the class to be their partners. While the blond rarely showed, when he did he was undefeated in Taijutsu spars and that cause nearly every boy to want to fight him. He ended up being paired with Kiba Inuzuka a loud barking boy that was fast and fought with ferociousness akin to that of a dog or wolf. The blond easily stumbled around the Inuzuka's attacks and slipped into his guard while delivering a solid punch to the chest that knocked wind out of him and gave Naruto the opening to end the spar.

From there the academy went back to menial classwork that was far to uninteresting to actually listen all the way through. But alas, today was the day of his exam and the last day of the challenge and he couldn't contain his excitement for his reward.

As Naruto looked over his exam he noted that he in fact didn't know everything on the test off the top of his head meaning that he did miss new information. Silently vowing to not miss so much class ever again Naruto worked through the questions slowly and carefully, deciphering the answers from his accumulated knowledge and problem solving. With his test done Naruto handed it to his instructor who graded it while Naruto watched.

Naruto's instructor was name Iruka Umino and he was one of the few who treated Naruto like a normal child. To the point of smiling at him like he did everyone else, it was one of the reasons Naruto has never pranked the Academy as nobody had wronged him. Iruka looked up from the test with an impressed smile and handed the paper back to the blond. Naruto looked over the test with apprehension, as he reached the bottom he noticed that he in fact aced his exam. New jutsu here he comes!

Iruka watched with a twitching brow as Naruto ran out of the classroom before being dismissed but shrugged it off. If the blond can ace his exams without attending class then who was Iruka to stop him…Wait! He was his instructor dammit! Starting tomorrow Iruka was going to start cracking down on the wayward blond for his attendance and frankly his attentiveness as the Chūnin noticed that he barely paid any attention to lectures.

xXx

The Hokage's office was conveniently located a few floors above Naruto's class room. The Hokage's tower was also half Shinobi Academy on one side and administrative on the other. Naruto didn't know nor did he care why that was the design but it has worked this long so no need to fix what aint broke right?

When arriving to the Hokage's office Naruto knocked a few times and only entered when given the go ahead from the other side. Naruto walked with purpose towards the old man and slapped his graded exam on the old man's desk with a triumphant expression.

Sarutobi smirked at the exam, so he was right about Naruto. The boy lacked motivation to attend the academy because he was learning every thing too quickly. From what he remembers, Jiraiya had a similar problem, something about already knowing that the painting was red, he couldn't remember.

"Congratulations Naruto-kun, if you'll follow me I think I have promised you a jutsu."

xXx

(Lagoon Training Ground)

As the arrive by use of the _Shunshin no Jutsu_ Sarutobi allowed Naruto a few seconds to regain his balance. Tagging along with someone else's _Shunshin_ left those inexperienced with a feeling of vertigo, more so if the user is really experience as Sarutobi was.

His young charge steadied himself and gave him his full attention. Sarutobi was hit with a strong wave of nostalgia, he has had many students during his time and teaching was one of his many passions. Especially youth that he knew would one day become great, much like his Genin team. Although, he hoped that Naruto stayed apart of Konoha despite the hardships of Shinobi life, unlike his Genin team.

Knowing that he needed to proceed less Naruto would burst from excitement he prepared himself. Sarutobi was originally going to teach the blond a _Doton_ jutsu and keep giving him jutsu as incentive for going to class, but then he was hit with an idea. The Sarutobi clan produced excellent shinobi, that was undeniable, however he was the only one who utilized the _Monkey Summoning Contract._ He wanted to pass it to his sons but his oldest politely refused while his youngest joined the _Shugonin Jūnishi_ to get away from him. Needless to say, until Konohamaru gained sufficient chakra levels the summoning contract was only going to be held by him. This idea was given to Sarutobi after Naruto's little display with one of the infant monkeys last week, despite not being apart of the clan Naruto got on quite well with it. But it wasn't his approval that Naruto needed, it was his combat partner's who was known as the Great Monkey King Enma.

"Observe." Instructed Sarutobi before biting his thumb and running through handseals to preform the _Kuchiyose no Jutsu._

A fūinjutsu formula appeared on the ground and a plum of smoke erupted from the affected spot. When the smoke cleared a large easily six foot tall monkey appeared. He wore a black suit with mesh armor underneath, over which he wore a yellow tiger stripped sleeveless kimono. He had a Konoha forehead protector that held back his long unkept white hair. Naruto was caught off guard by the monkey's expression as it seemed as though he was furious, but on closure inspection Naruto chalked it up to intense focus and a penetrating eyes that could unnerve anyone.

"I didn't think that you have fallen so far as to need me to fight a child, Hiruzen." Grunted Enma who got a light chuckle out of Naruto's terrified expression.

"No, I had something even more ridiculous to offer," Enma's attention was brought back to Hiruzen from the blond boy and the latter let out a relieve sigh. "I want Naruto-kun here to sign the contract."

Enma noted that the blond was just as surprised as he was based on his jaw that had hit the ground, much to the older parties amusement. The monkey king was surprised by his partner and his clan's only current summoner, to offer a non-Sarutobi the contract was highly irregular and never been done before. While that could be chalked up to the fact that before Hiruzen was a summoner the warring states period was still happening and clans didn't share anything back then other than the sharp end of a kunai. Enma surprised himself when he realized that he was considering it, it would certainly be good for the clan to have the opportunity to see actual combat for a change, the boy would need to be tested before he allowed him the contract though.

The Monkey King stopped his inner debate and turned back to Hiruzen. "I will test him, you can leave if you want I'm sure you have work to do."

Hiruzen was grateful that Enma remembered and bid Naruto a nod, "Good luck Naruto-kun."

When they were alone Naruto hesitantly turned to the enormous talking monkey. "Hello Enma-san, my name is—" Before he could finish, Naruto was punched clear across the clearing by the monkey king.

"No talking! I will learn your name should you pass the test!" Shouted Enma, meanwhile Naruto was trying to remember why he wanted to be a shinobi in the first place after such a jarring punch. "You must impress me without dying!"

Naruto shot up at that, he had no intention of dying to some overgrown monkey on a Tuesday. He wasn't given more than a second before the Monkey King shot towards him with speeds that Naruto could only just keep up with.

Naruto rolled out of the way of the monkeys stomp and went to tackle his opponent the ground. The blond was swatted away like a fly and sent tumbling for a few seconds before he regained his footing and took his stance, which consisted of a sloppy boxer stance with both hands held up to keep his head protected.

Enma was unimpressed with the boys offense and defense, he may be a little hard on the boy as he's young and laking any sort of clan training like Hiruzen. But he did posses above average reflexes, fast enough to avoid his stomp. Time to test his endurance.

Enma shot towards Naruto with Chūnin speeds to be just fast enough for Naruto to follow but not to change the pace of the fight. Enma started off with a hammer strike that was predictably avoided by the blond before the Monkey King's leg shot out hitting Naruto in the stomach causing him to double over.

Naruto pushed the pain away and jumped away from Enma, when he saw that the Monkey King was about to charge Naruto ran away towards the trees. Momentarily thrown off by the strange tactic Enma slowly went to follow.

Naruto dived into a bush and concealed his presence as best as he could. ' _There is no possible way that I can match that thing! Every hit feels like my bones are going to snap, if I'm going to impress this guy then I need to do it like a ninja._ ' Meaning that he would need to strike at the least expected time and place.

Naruto could hear the heavy footsteps of his adversary drawing near him. Naruto slowly and steadily reached into his thigh holster for a kunai, no way in hell was he going to be able to contend with the monkey's strength. But skin was skin and a kunai can cut skin quite easily.

Enma discretely glanced around the forests making it a point to avoid the bush where Naruto was hiding. It was a smart tactic, if you couldn't overpower your opponent then outsmart them. But the young boy wasn't experienced enough or smart enough to get one over on the Monkey King just yet. He was pleased that the blond had a brain under that thick skull of his big enough to realize that he couldn't win in flat out combat, now he just needed to see how well he did from the shadows.

' _Here we go._ ' Naruto waited until Enma was fully faced away from him before firing out of the bushes like a cannonball towards the Monkey King. The very second that Naruto shot from the bushes Enma whirled around and caught the boy mid-air with one hand and the other stopping the kunai from slicing his throat.

"Very good! No wasted movement, right for the kill! You've the makings of a fine shinobi." Praised Enma as warmly as he could. Naruto would have been pleased but he was still in a choke hold and Enma's face never changed from his extremely intense gaze that was extremely unnerving to see as he was being praised.

The Monkey King let go of Naruto's throat, dropping him to the ground and let him regain his breath. He was impressed with the blond, he was an uncut gem for sure as Enma could see the immeasurable potential lying within him and all that was needed was a guiding hand and careful instruction. It was time, Enma supposed, that the Monkey's of _Mt. Tekkijidai_ have a new summoner.

Naruto pulled himself to his feet with nothing less than sheer willpower, that spar, if it could be even called that, took every ounce of energy he had and right now he wanted food and a nice nap. But based on the look in that sadistic monkey's eye, the day wasn't over yet.

As if reading his thoughts Enma spoke, "I have one final task for you," Spoke Enma as he flashed through seals and summoned forth a large scroll with the symbol for _Saru_ on the side. "I have acknowledged you as a worthy summoner and would like to offer you the chance to be our next summoner."

Naruto managed a tired grin and nodded in appreciation, the blond understood that this was one of the highest honors one could receive as a shinobi. A clan of animal summons allowing you to be their summoner, it was even more so considering that the only summoner alive for this animal was the Sandaime Hokage. Needless to say Naruto was very much looking forward to the opportunity. Enma instructed him to cut his finger and sign his name in blood before showing him the handseals.

After memorizing the seals Naruto bit his thumb and weaved through the seals. " _Kuchiyose no Jutsu!_ "

A fūinjutsu formula appeared where Naruto slammed his hand and a plum of smoke burst from the ground. When the smoke cleared away a _very_ large gorilla was in front of him, it was easily seven feet tall with fists planted in the earth to keep balance both easily larger than Naruto head. It had dark black fur with silver mane-like hair that spiked down to it's neck. It also, like Enma, wore a black suit with mesh armor underneath but was without a kimono. Overall with the ridiculously large bulging muscles and extremely intense gaze that Naruto was now linking to all Apes that he now could summon, Naruto expected these to be extremely useful and powerful allies.

"I did not think we had a new summoner Enma-sama." the Gorilla's deep gravely voice was much more intimidating than the blond thought it would be but managed to hold himself together without showing fear, or at least he hoped that was what he was doing.

"We do Sarukakan, and he is," Enma said while gesturing to Naruto. "This is Naruto Uzumaki, please inform the others of him. I expect that he will become quite familiar with them in the coming months."

Sarukakan grunted as he appraised his new summoner before returning home. He was sure that this would get mixed responses, most would be happy that they would see combat once again while others would be upset that he wasn't a Sarutobi Clan Member. But if Enma-sama approved of him then they didn't have a choice and he was sure that their King wouldn't pick a weak summoner.

Naruto blinked at the exchange before turning to Enma. "What did you mean, 'he'll become quite familiar with them in the coming months' Enma-sama?" Now using the appropriate honorific towards the King of Apes.

Naruto stepped back slightly when he was on the receiving end of one of the most terrifying grins he's ever had the misfortune of seeing.

"Naruto. As our summoner you will be spending your time training with us as well as training in the academy or with your future Sensei. Hiruzen balanced his time training with us and Tobirama during his Genin and Chūnin years and we'll expect you to do the same! You are to summon me everyday after your academy day is out for further instruction." And with that the Monkey King was gone, either back to his home or somewhere else, Naruto found himself not caring about anything other than his sore body and that ramen bowl in his cabinet back at his apartment.

xXx

(Hokage's Office)

The Sandaime leaned back in his chair idly puffing on his pipe with satisfaction, Naruto passed Enma's test with flying colors and managed to summon one of the largest summons on his first try. Excellent.

"You gave us quite the gem Hiruzen." The Sandaime was greeted by the familiar presence of his longest living friend Enma, his training partner in his adolescence and combat partner during the wars. "He is a little ruff around the edges with his lack of formal training but that gives us more to work with in the long run. More importantly is his apparent aptitude for Ninjutsu, he summoned Sarukakan on his first try. Who is this boy Hiruzen?"

The Sandaime glanced at Enma from under his hat. "He's Minato Namikaze's son, you remember the night I'm sure and you saw what became of him."

Enma did in fact remember the night of the Kyūbi attack, he also recalled the Yondaime sealing the Bijū into his son killing himself in the process. Which meant that they now had a Jinchūriki as a summoner. One with innate Ninjutsu talent and extreme levels of potential, quite the gem indeed.

"It was apparent from a young age that Naruto would amount to a splendid Shinobi, one for the history books. But with the rate he learns he lacked the motivation to attend class after learning the information which resulted in his bellow average overall ranking in the Academy. I was hoping that this would give him an outlet to train and motivation to attend class. I'm sure you can show him the importance of academic learning." Said the Sandaime with a sly expression at the end, when he says that he meant Enma would have him attend everyday otherwise he would be on the receiving end of Enma's notable wrath. Something the Sandaime was sure Naruto would be smart enough to avoid.

The Monkey King nodded towards his partner. "I will ensure his attendance," he did not miss Hiruzen's satisfied smirk. "And we will begin his training and preparation for the trial."

The Sandaime winced at that, the trial was something he doubted even Jōnin could handle. It was something he did in his younger years to receive the right to wield the _Kongōnyoi._ If Naruto had aspirations to be Hokage like he has proclaimed then passing the trail would certainly be the best way to show he was capable. From what the Sandaime remembered he had to have mastery of _Doton_ , _Katon_ and _Suiton_ before he was ready for the trail. Naruto had a very long and difficult road ahead of him.

xXx

(One Month Later: Konoha Academy)

Naruto listened to his instructor prattle on about the many applications of Ninja Wire in the field, while Naruto acknowledged that this was actually useful information he just could bring himself to actually fully pay attention to the lecture.

He also appeared to not be the only one that other things on their mind that took precedence over the lecture.

The first one Naruto noticed was Kiba Inuzuka, the youngest child of Tsume Inuzuka, the current head of the Inuzuka Clan. He wore a grey track suit with a hooded jacket with fur lining the hood and cuffs. Kiba was quite wild looking boy with his spiky brown hair and red fang tattoos on his cheeks that was common among the Inuzuka clan, a right of passage given to those who bonded with their Ninken partner. Kiba was among the top in the physical side of the academy, he was one of the fastest in the class and held talent for his clans jutsu. So with that Kiba tended to tune out most lectures as he had no use for most of them with his clan techniques being his primary means of combat.

The next one was sitting right next to Naruto on his left. He was the last known survivor of the Uchiha Clan- Sasuke Uchiha. The Uchiha had black hair that spiked in the back and held a blueish tint to it in the light. Sasuke wore tan shorts, light blue arm warmers and a high collar blue t-shirt with the Uchiha clan's emblem on the back that signified his mastery of the _Katon: Gōkakyū_ _no Jutsu._ Sasuke was the classes resident 'genius', as such he would likely tune out any lessons that he already knew. But to Naruto's surprise the Uchiha wasn't actually tuning out the lecture or listening, he seemed to be glaring into space as he relived some sort of memory. The blond didn't know what was the worst part out of all of that.

Lastly, and the least surprising of the group was Shikamaru Nara, son of Shikaku Nara the current head of the Nara clan. Shikamaru wore grey pants and a grey shirt with green lining that was open to reveal his mesh t-shirt beneath it. Shikamaru was happily sitting close to the bottom of the class in rankings as he seemed to have even less motivation than Naruto to excel in class. It was a well known fact that Nara clan members, the men at least, were as smart as they were lazy and judging from Shikamaru's attitude in class Naruto suspected that he was some sort of mega-genius.

Naruto only barely acknowledged that Sakura who was on the far left of the bench that Naruto was sitting, answered the question that Iruka asked the class only for her to immediately and 'subtly' look towards Sasuke for acknowledgement. Naruto shook his head at that, she was far too interested in romancing her classmate than becoming a shinobi, if she didn't step up her game soon she'll be under equipped to deal with the life of a shinobi when the time came. From what Enma has described, Naruto felt as if he was going to be thrown into a battlefield right off the bat and thus required the most grueling training regimen Naruto could take. Which thanks to Naruto's apparent regenerative abilities was quite ridiculous.

The first day of training with Enma he was told that he was to attend every day of the academy without fail or he would suffer the consequences and needless to say Naruto hasn't been late to class once.

During the past month Naruto learned a lot about his summons from the Monkey King. He could summon smaller monkeys like the one he met at the lagoon to deliver messages or scout areas. Other monkeys that could ambush opponents, while physically they were lacking they possessed more than enough agility and skill with Shurikenjutsu to contribute. Then there were the specialized summons, like the howler monkeys. They utilized their howls to cast auditory Genjutsu on their opponents, it was a dangerous technique since those who didn't have the specialized training from the monkey's themselves would be susceptible to the jutsu. Which meant that he couldn't use it around comrades or they would be ensnared in the jutsu like the target.

The larger monkeys and gorillas were incredibly strong and agile. But more importantly, most of them could utilize _Doton_ jutsu in combat. Enma even hinted that he could also utilize _Katon_ on top of that. Naruto was told that every Summon clan had specializations, Toad with _Suiton_ and _Senjutsu_ and the Snakes with poisons and _Senjutsu._ So it would seem that the Monkey's specialized in _Doton_ and Taijutsu, extremely powerful despite their lacking size compared to other summons.

Every day Naruto was given training from Enma or on some occasions Sarukakan in Taijutsu. The blond was told that today they would start on something else and Naruto was both apprehensive and excited of what was to come.

But before that Naruto had to get through todays Academy class. Which judging by the lecture's momentum was a long…way…away.

xXx

(Hokage's Office)

The Sandaime read through reports with a steady pace, he was both completely focused and thinking about other things. The state of the world being one thing, the country of _Tani no Kuni_ being put under new leadership and renamed _Oto no Kuni_ was troubling and if what Jiraiya has reported lately, the leader was supposedly an extremely powerful shinobi with a lot of influence.

This just reeked of the time before the first shinobi world war. When everyone was still drawing their lines in the dirt then fighting over the remaining land. Then their was the straining relations with Kumo after the Hyuga fiasco five years ago, they would be more than happy to sink their teeth into one of the many Kekkei Genkai that Konoha protected.

Luckily Konoha and Suna still held friendly relations since their treaty at the end of the Third Shinobi world war, despite the Kazekage's militaristic outlook he was still quite agreeable when it came to their trade.

Unfortunately, the remaining great five villages were either locked in a civil war that didn't look to be ending anytime soon or was Iwa. An Iwa shinobi was more likely to set themselves on fire than to become ally to Konoha. With all this in mind the Sandaime knew that only one possible outcome was inevitable. War.

It was the fate of the Shinobi war and the cycle of hatred that has consumed it. Every generation fated to live through war at one point or another and it seemed that this generation might see it sooner than expected.

While in the wake of the Kyūbi attack Konoha lost a significant number of shinobi but they still held a respectable twelve thousand shinobi. Other villages held far more as they refused to go into disarmament and rather further expanded their forces in secret, but nothing was secret to Jiraiya spy network. While Konoha had the smallest overall military, they held more quality shinobi that were enough to intimidate other villages from invading.

The state of the world only further cemented Hiruzen's belief that giving Naruto the Monkey Summoning Contract was right. Naruto now had the opportunity of training with extremely powerful summons that help turn Hiruzen into what he was today instead of become some trouble maker that is only looked at as a prankster rather than a future shinobi.

The Sandaime was brought from his thoughts by the sound of a cane hitting the ground every other second meaning that Danzo has decided to grace Hiruzen with his presence. The door to his office opened and in walked the villages war hawk, he was as extreme as he was loyal to the village. Which meant that Hiruzen knew that in the underbelly of the village where the roots of the tree lay held darkness that should never be given the light of day. As was their agreement all those years ago.

Danzo was an elderly looking man who's head was wrapped in bandages that covered his right eye and further pushed up his thin black spiky hair. He wore a white shirt with a black robe that covered his right arm and went down to his feet. While Danzo gave off the appearance of a frail old man he was far from it. He was one of the few first generation shinobi still alive, he was the self proclaimed 'rival' to Hiruzen Sarutobi for most of his life for jealously of the Sarutobi's prodigious talent.

"You've been quite busy Hiruzen. I have heard that you gave Uzumaki your Summoning Contract." It was an interesting turn of events from his former rival, who in Danzo's opinion has become far too stagnant as of late and was unfit to be Hokage. But he was unable to garner support to take over.

Hiruzen let out a long sigh that was further supplemented by the smoke from his pipe. "It was time he started taking his training seriously."

Danzo didn't need to voice his opinion for Hiruzen to know he agreed with him. The Uzumaki was a pathetic excuse for a shinobi from what his subordinates told him, skipping out on the academy out of boredom rather wanting to be the prankster king of the village. While even Danzo would acknowledge Naruto's potential it was completely wasted by not being given training at a young age. He could have already started utilizing the Kyūbi's chakra if Danzo had a hand in his training, but Hiruzen was far too soft when it came to the boy.

"I have come for budget approval. Should Uzumaki require more specialized training I would be happy to oblige." Danzo handed his _Hokage_ the report to which the Sandaime immediately approved of and gave back to the war hawk.

"I'll keep that in mind." ' _Not on your life._ '

"Very well" With that Danzo left the office to return to do whatever it was he did now a days. Most likely overthrowing small governments because he felt they would be threats in one to two centuries. Standard Danzo stuff.

xXx

(Lagoon Training Ground)

Naruto launched himself towards the nearest tree, using his dexterity Naruto grabbed a branch and flipped himself on top of it. From his elevated position Naruto could see his opponent barreling through the forest towards him with the same extremely fierce look that he had ever since Naruto had met him.

Enma jumped through the air towards the blond who waited till the last possible second before dropping towards the forest floor, while subtly leaving three explosive notes on the underside of the branch. The Monkey King only barely smelled the burning paper in time to jump away from the tree who's bark exploded in a fiery storm of wooden shrapnel. The concussive force of the three explosive notes pushed Enma off balance long enough for Naruto to land a double heel kick on the Monkey King's head.

Despite the power behind the kick Naruto realized that Enma barely reacted to the strike and retaliated immediately. "You little bastard!" Roared Enma as he grabbed the blonds legs and spun him around before tossing him back into the clearing and into the lagoon.

Enma walked back into the clearing casually as to give time for his newest summoner to pull himself from the water. They had made progress during the month, Naruto picked up the basics to the _Yonedaken_ remarkable fast and was now utilizing Taijutsu that didn't look completely sloppy. Enma will acknowledge that Naruto was skilled enough to fight effectively without a formal style before however.

Now it was time for Naruto to learn the next step of his training- _Doton_. Enma called Naruto over to him. "Now today we will start with a new jutsu, with it you can learn numerous branching and derived jutsu with minimal effort should you master it."

Enma weaved through three hand-seals before exhaling a steady stream of mud that flew through the air at unbelievable speeds. Once the stream of mud hit the targeted tree a loud crack reverberated through the clearing signifying the amount of concussive force the jutsu inflicted. When the mud fell from the tree a large piece of the trunk was missing and cracks were formed around the affected area.

Seeing his charges impressed look Enma explained. "That was _Doton: Doro Dangan no Jutsu,_ it is highly adaptable and can be used as a stream of highly compacted mud or a stream of mud that covers the opponent that can be hardened at will. Although for the latter mastery of the jutsu is required."

With that Naruto started on the jutsu easily getting the mud to form but as noted by Enma early on it was apparent that _Doton_ was not his affinity and Naruto would have to work extra hard to master the jutsu. But being the slave driver and perfectionist he was, Enma expected Naruto to master the jutsu today, after all it was only a C-Rank jutsu. If it takes him too long on this what happens when they get to the complex ones down the road.

It took far less time than Enma expect for Naruto to preform the jutsu to his liking- only three hours. Naruto managed to compact his mud to the point that it was nearing rock density, which meant that Naruto was already modifying the jutsu to his liking.

Naruto took in a deep breath and held the tiger seal to mold his chakra. " _Doton: Doro Dangan no Jutsu!_ " Naruto exhaled his chakra that took the form of a stream of highly compacted mud that sped towards his targeted tree which, like Enma before, resulted in a loud crack that echoed through the forest. When the mud was falling away the tree started to buckle and break in half falling into the forest while Naruto was proud of his work he was far too tired to celebrate. Ah, he'll do that in the morning after breakfast.

Enma managed a slight smirk at the exhausted blond, he certainly didn't give in to exhaustion if his task wasn't completed. It showed tenacity and an undying will, both excellent qualities in a shinobi. He also possessed high levels of talent in Ninjutsu. While he said that Naruto had to master the jutsu today he only meant that to push Naruto to get as far as he could, especially after noticing that _Doton_ wasn't his affinity. But Naruto managed to shatter his expectations and complete the jutsu in just under four hours with no prior training, what a monster he would become. It was almost terrifying to think of, but Enma found himself more excited than scared.

The Monkey King hoisted the passed out blond over his shoulder to take him back in his apartment. He'll leave a note for Naruto to tell him that he had tomorrow off from training, he certainly earned it.

xXx

(Later that Night: Hokage Estate)

Hiruzen relaxed in his study contemplating everything that has happened in the last month. After summoning Enma for the first time in a good eight years he was on the receiving end of a tongue lashing from his long time partner for his stagnation. So in result, every Tuesday and Thursday he and Enma would train from 5 am to 9 am before the Sandaime was required to arrive at the Hokage's office for work. His withering blade that appeared to be at an all time low was now being restored and sharpened back to a respectable level.

While his reserves where no longer the earth shaking immense levels of his youth, he still commanded a large and powerful reserve of chakra that he could use to unrivaled levels of efficiency. Oh how foolish he had been to let himself fall so far, he was just now approaching a level that was befitting a Kage. Prior to this month he doubted that he could fight his students without Enma, but given his training and maybe a few more weeks, he was sure that he could win again yet again.

During those training sessions Enma would update him on Naruto's training, much to Hiruzen's pleasure Naruto seemed to be taking to the training at incredible levels. It spoke of his prodigious talent that he could master such jutsu in record speeds.

Perhaps Naruto will rise to the occasion and not just become great but close the gap and become a legend.

* * *

 ** _Author's Notes_**

Now, I have read all of your guy's reviews and took them into account and will apply them accordingly. Overall based on PM's and reviews it was pretty much apparent that most either didn't care who the parring was or didn't mind who I chose. And with the direction I'm taking this story, if it turns out to be Kurenai (spoilers guys I aint telling who yet) it will be way later, I'm developing Naruto not a romance. Thats how I feel about pairings anyway- I never like when a story focuses too heavily on them when the story isn't a romance. No harem. No Yaoi. No Narusaku. No Naruhina.

When it came to Ninjutsu in the second question I think people either misread or forgot my original story. Naruto never had five affinities, he had a wind affinity and learned the elements over eighteen chapters which was like seven years. This story will sorta kinda follow a similar route in it's own kinda the same different way. That made sense to one of you i'm sure shout out to them.

Graduating early is something I just wanted to here everyone's thoughts on with the idea already in my head that he wouldn't. People usually get turned off by overflowing amounts of OC's and too much AU. This story will certainly have both but not to the point that the original work is unidentifiable and main characters pushed aside. I also want Naruto to be with his age group since when I graduated him early in the original it was hard for me to tie him to the rookie 9 since he was already a Jonin by the time they graduated. Don't worry, Naruto will certainly progress at an accelerated rate. I was happy to see that there were a lot of people who wouldn't mind him not graduating early.

And I noted that since the toads were capable of ninjutsu, apes should be able to as well. I decided to give them earth since it made sense to me. Tell me what you think!

I want reviews from everyone on how the re-write is and how my changes helped or annoyed you or whatever I just want feedback! I read all reviews and reply to the ones that require it so don't think I'll ignore you!

 ** _Original Jutsu:_**

Doton: Doro Dangan no Jutsu (Earth Release: Mud bullet technique) C-Rank: The user molds chakra in their chest and expels a compacted stream of mud towards the intended target, the concussive force alone is enough to kill. Masters of the jutsu can harden the mud into rock mid flight or allow the mud to cover their opponent then harden as a way to bind their opponent.


	2. Examinations

**Prologue**

 **Chapter 2: Examinations**

* * *

The Village Hidden in the Leaves was hailed as the strongest ninja village in the world. Three shinobi wars and they have come out on top or at least the better of the other participants. Their military population boasted just under thirteen thousand shinobi all lead by the legendary _Kami no Shinobi_ \- Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Out of the Great Five Hidden Villages; Konoha was known to be a jack of all trades village. With clans like the Uchiha and Senju being its' founders, there weren't many jutsu that wasn't archived in the Konoha vault, be it Nin, Tai, Gen or Fūinjutsu. They boasted the largest number of shinobi born with _Katon_ affinities that could use jutsu that turned entire groups of enemies to ash in mere moments. Along with them there were numerous shinobi born with other primary affinities to bolster their already impressive offense even further. With the teachings of the Shodaime Hokage regarding teamwork, most villages were warned against fighting a squad of Konoha shinobi together and did their best to separate them. Teams such as the infamous _Sannin_ and _Ino-Shika-Cho_ only further cemented this belief.

With those factors in place, Konoha's Shinobi Academy didn't focus as heavily on any specific branches of shinobi combat other than the basics to lay the foundation that the Jōnin-sensei's would build upon. It was a much different take than any of the other Great Villages as Kumo was rumored to start _Raiton_ training in their academy and their tests and examinations were far more practical and standardized to produce many effective shinobi every year. The differences were clear as Konoha may have less overall shinobi but they possessed quality over quantity and the past wars have surely explained which was better. Iwa certainly learned that the hard way as a one thousand shinobi campaign was stopped and annihilated by a single man utilizing an S-Rank Time-Space jutsu to brutal efficiency.

All this was affecting a single blond academy student as he was forced to sit through yet another lecture on the application of _Suiton_ chakra in environments without a water source near by. Something that Naruto was familiar with as he understood the _first time_ he heard this lecture, last week. But that was before the most recent exam that almost half the class scored below average. Mind boggling as it was to him, Naruto did in fact understand that such things were confusing to most as _Suiton_ was quite a difficult element to firmly understand, especially in theory instead of with actual experience.

Iruka Umino looked around the class to see who could answer his question and laid eyes on the perpetually bored blond and smirked. "Uzumaki! What is the most detrimental effect dry environments have on _Suiton_ users?"

Naruto closed his eyes and sat straight up to answer.

"There are a few," Started the blond with a lazy drawl. "Mostly though would be the extra chakra required to produce large amounts of water from inside the body. Which, with prolonged use of this method dehydrates the user. Something like that I guess."

The Chūnin let out a sigh of dismay, while the blond answered correctly his enthusiasm left much to be desired. But it was to be expected, Naruto was going to be one of the top graduates next week, he would have been one of the bottom students if his attendance didn't fix two years ago. He wasn't sure what changed in the blond but since that day he hasn't missed a single class unless the Hokage himself excused the blond. While that in itself was strange, Iruka didn't think on it too much since he had far too many students to worry about rather than one that was a little odd.

"Very good," Praised Iruka ignoring some of the other students groans. "It's too be expected after all. KIBA! Stop falling asleep and pay attention, you might have passed if you did last time."

Kiba jolted up and glared at the his laughing classmates. Muttering about unnecessary tests while his faithful companion- Akamaru, yipped in agreement. Naruto shook his head at the everyday occurrence and went back to his thoughts.

The past two years under Enma and the rest of his summons's tutelage made Naruto several times stronger than before his training began. He has gotten extremely proficient in his Taijutsu stances, while he was strong for his age he would need to use weapons such as kunai against larger fully-grown opponents. With his training he was undefeated by everyone save for Sasuke Uchiha in Taijutsu.

Naruto acknowledged the last loyal Uchiha's skill in hand to hand combat as the best in class, Naruto was faster but without the use of weapons or jutsu, which were prohibited in spars, Naruto couldn't do anything about the reactive and redirecting Taijutsu art that the Uchiha clan were masters of.

Naruto was sure that in an all out spar the result would be quite different as Naruto has come far in Ninjutsu. Enma expressed extreme surprise at Naruto's progression in _Doton_ , while it wasn't the blond's affinity Naruto was able to use jutsu to brutal efficiency. Then there were the times that the Sandaime would give him personal sessions. They discovered that Naruto was in fact a _Fūton_ primary and was receiving nature transformation exercises for the element. That were progressing quite quickly in Naruto's opinion. Though during training the Sandaime was quite fond of teasing Naruto about his progress compared to the himself.

"Oh impressive! …Though I had already master fire _and_ earth at your age and was a Jōnin."

"Don't be hard on yourself Naruto! Not everyone is cut out for Ninjutsu, I'm sure the administrative devision could use a delivery boy!"

That was what he had to listen to as he and several _Kage Bunshin_ were furiously trying to cut leaves with wind-natured chakra. Bastard of an old man was getting far too much amusement out of making fun of him. Especially after a spar with the blond- who has yet to land a single hit on the elderly Hokage. Naruto was glad that the graduation exam was next week because if he had to sit through mind numbingly boring lectures then be trained into the ground everyday he was going to start a revolution. He doubted anyone would side with him but an army of clones causing chaos would throw any village into insanity.

The bell to the academy rang signifying the end of the school day and Naruto walked to his training ground on autopilot, he was sure that he was in a literal rut from doing the same thing everyday.

xXx

(Later that Day: Lagoon Training Ground)

Each of the five basic nature transformation had their own strengths and weaknesses. Naruto was currently feeling some of the draw backs of _Fūton._ It was a highly offensive element capable of slicing, shredding, pushing or crushing with pressure. While those were the strengths, the draw backs were that it had very little to offer in defense, it was hard to control and drained chakra more than any other element. Though the latter wasn't much of a problem for Naruto as his reserves were massive. The volatile nature of wind was causing Naruto to strain his chakra coils for practicing jutsu without both _Fūton_ exercises completed.

Enma wasn't present in Naruto's training today, after Naruto mastered his Taijutsu and was deemed proficient enough in _Doton._ The Monkey King no longer required him to attend daily sessions, only two per week.

The Sandaime Hokage was a master of all five basic nature transformations. He was taught by the legendary Shodaime and Nidaime Hokages. He was capable of bending and molding chakra into lighting, then stop halfway through and send out a wide stream of fire before expelling the lightning all the while saturating his body and muscles with chakra. That was the unrivaled mastery of shape manipulation and chakra control the legendary _Shinobi no Kami_ possessed. This was the mountain that Naruto needed to climb, the shadow he needed to leave, Naruto's life goal evolved ever since his first training session with the Sandaime. It was no longer about _just_ becoming Hokage, no, he was going to become stronger than Hiruzen Sarutobi, he was going to take his title and the world will know his name as the de-facto strongest shinobi of his time!

But for now he needed to master his newest jutsu, _Fūton: Kazebakufu._ This jutsu was a compacted ball of wind easily the size of a grown man that stuck with enough force that it destroyed tree trucks and shredded whatever was near. Wind lived up to it's name of being the most offensive element as this was a relatively weak jutsu compared to some that he has seen the Sandaime utilize. Thinking about his self proclaimed rival Naruto gained the energy needed to try his jutsu once more.

The wind element was unusual in that it required less hand signs than the other elements but more chakra to generate. Naruto weaved two handseals and felt his lungs saturate with chakra and exhaled a dense ball of chakra. The jutsu distorted the air around it, a shrieking gale sounded in the area and the targeted tree was struck by the jutsu and held firm for less than half a second before the area it directly hit disintegrated and large chunks of wood flew through the area stabbing into the ground.

Naruto fell onto his back gasping for air, _Fūton_ that originated from internal an source left the user without oxogen in their lungs. Yet another draw back for the unrivaled offense, but Naruto noted that his jutsu was successful. Much to his pleasure.

This jutsu was similar to the first _Doton_ jutsu he learned, with mastery of this he could learn many branching and derived jutsu. Naruto noticed a theme with the techniques that he received from his summons and Ji-chan, perhaps to help him master the respective elements? Naruto was highly proficient in if not a master of basic _Doton_ manipulation. He wasn't capable of hardening the earth to obsidian level densities like he's heard some Iwa Jōnin could, but realistically Naruto could learn most _Doton_ jutsu without much effort at this point. The _Doton: Doro Dangan no Jutsu_ was without a doubt the best jutsu to start with as it taught him how to manipulate mud and harden his jutsu after casting them. After mastering it Naruto made some modifications and created a few new jutsu of his own during training.

From what he already knows about his wind technique, his mastery of it was only at a basic level. A master could fire multiple blasts in rapid succession and even easily shatter stone. He was a ways off but nothing a little hard work, a touch of talent and a few dozen clones couldn't accomplish in a few days.

Well he was done for the day, time for him to enjoy a nice cold shower. It was far too hot this time of year for a warm one. _Hi no Kuni_ indeed.

xXx

(Graduation Day: Konoha Academy)

The Konoha Graduation exam was quite long and tedious, a written exam that covered their entire time in the Academy, a physical test against a Chūnin instructor and a Ninjutsu examination requiring use of one of the basic three jutsu that was randomly assigned.

Naruto, as expected, passed the written exam and kami willing it was to be the last one he ever had to take. Now he was waiting in line for either instructor to call his name for the spar, since it was a final exam the students were allowed to use any skills in their arsenal to pass. Much to Naruto's excitement, not only for a chance to go all out but to see some of the clan heir's skills in action. Like Shikamaru's who was fighting with his instructor.

The Nara clan were inhabitants of _Hi no Kuni_ for generations, the shadow jutsu they were known for were originally created as a way for them to capture deer to harvest their antlers for medicinal uses. When the Warring States era began they started to implement this jutsu for offensive purposes to capture their targets. Mixed with their seemingly genetic high intelligence ratios, the Nara clan has used simple binding techniques to brutal efficiency as they were able to keep foes such as the Inuzuka Clan immobilized during the Warring States Era without trouble. It was kept secret by the Nara clan for generations but as it was just _Yin-Release_ manipulation it has been copied by several Uchiha over the years and the Sandaime Hokage has even shown mastery of the Shadow techniques during the first and second shinobi wars.

Currently, Shikamaru Nara was facing off against Mizuki, the assistant instructor who decided to help Iruka during the final examinations this year. Mizuki was quite tall with white hair that fell down to neck length, he wore the standard blue shinobi attire and green Konoha Chūnin flack jacket. He was apparently quite skilled as a shinobi, Naruto heard him talking to Iruka arrogantly about being selected to be promoted to Jōnin and all that was left was for the Sandaime's approval. Which meant that his skills were a cut above Chūnin making him a seriously difficult opponent for the final exam.

Shikamaru lazily observed his opponent with a scowl, he was clearly outclassed. If he could find a way to corner Mizuki then he knew that he would win. Mizuki grew tired of the inaction and shot forward at Chūnin speeds, with the sloth of a shinobi Shikamaru was it was surprising that he mustered up the speed to avoid the text book punch and jump away from the leg sweep.

Shikamaru pulled out set of four kunai and put two in each hand. The instructor regarded the weapons with narrowed eyes trying to decipher the Nara's plan. Shikamaru heaved both arms and with a grunt of effort and flung them towards Mizuki who blinked lamely as they all missed their mark landing behind him. Some of the others watching the spar snickered at the attempt while Mizuki decided to punish the Nara for the failed tactic like he would be in real combat.

When Mizuki neared Shikamaru, he was surprised that Shikamaru suddenly smirked as he held the rat hand seal. When Mizuki saw this he suddenly lost all ability of movement as Shikamaru grinned fully. Below him was a tendril of shadow that was connected through each of the kunai that Shikamaru threw earlier shadow's.

" _Kagemane no Jutsu_ complete." Muttered Shikamaru. The others watching let out slow claps, some of them had wide eyes that the notoriously lazy boy managed to actually win his spar.

Mizuki suppressed his snarl or annoyance and settled for a pleased smile. "Very good Nara-kun. If you'll let me go now."

Shikamaru released his shadow and walked back towards the group of students and laid down under the nearest tree to take a nap. Those who saw this shook their heads and waited for the next person to be called by Mizuki.

The Chūnin examiner looked over his last few students to test and smirked at the Uchiha, it would be interesting to see how the last of the once legendary clan faired in combat. "Sasuke Uchiha!" The genin hopeful silently walked into the center of the grass field and stood across from Mizuki.

Sasuke was the only member of the Uchiha clan that was still loyal to Konoha after his elder brother- Itachi Uchiha, went crazy and killed everyone in his clan save for Sasuke. Itachi left him with the challenge of attaining power then to come before him to see who was the strongest Uchiha. The last of the once legendary and founding clan of Konoha stood in his family's Interceptor Fist with pure focus on his face as he waited for Mizuki to come to him. The girls that were watching let out dreamy sighs at the subject of their affections acting so cool.

Realizing that Sasuke would patiently stand there for as long as necessary Mizuki decided to start the match by throwing two practice shuriken toward the Uchiha before rushing in at standard Chūnin speeds. Sasuke with impressive speeds himself reached into his thigh holster and pulled out a kunai. With skills practiced over countless hours Sasuke threw his kunai towards the shuriken, the flying knife hit the metal stars at just the right angle to send them flying towards Mizuki, who's eyes widened and he stopped his advance. Sasuke seeing the opening shot forward with speed that was unmatched by everyone in the class save for Naruto.

Mizuki noticed Sasuke coming without any trouble but with the speed and strength he was allowed to use for the examination he couldn't react in time for an attack so settled for defense. Sasuke started off with a left hook that was blocked by Mizuki's right forearm, the Uchiha continued by baiting a right uppercut which Mizuki moved to avoid. When Sasuke saw thing he jumped and spun clockwise with his right leg extended hitting the Chūnin in the head with bone jarring strength.

Mizuki blinked rapidly as he jumped away to gain distance, the Uchiha was unsurprisingly amazing at Taijutsu. He wasn't allowed a second to think as Sasuke was on him as he jumped and spun clockwise yet again while his body was horizontal bringing his leg down on the awaiting Chūnin's raised arm guard causing him to grunt at the powerful attack. Sasuke wasn't done as he used Mizuki's arms as a spring board and jumped into the air while weaving through seals ending in the tiger seal.

 _Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!_

Sasuke's chest swelled to unnatural levels before he blew out a strong stream of chakra that ignited in a storm of red flames that formed into a man sized fireball that soared towards the grounded Mizuki. The heat of the impressive _Katon_ jutsu was felt throughout the clearing by all those testing or watching, none more so than Mizuki who used a seal-less replacement with one of the many logs in the area.

The log that was hit turned to ash before the fireball even completely touched the ground. Once the fireball hit the grass the ground vibrated from the force and red flames exploded, hot enough to catch some of the trees close enough on fire. Some of the watching Chūnin weaved seals and expelled large globs of water that lacked any sort of offensive use but did the job that was intended and put out the fires.

Undeterred by his jutsu failing to finish the fight Sasuke landed in a crouch and took his stance looking over towards his Chūnin opponent. Mizuki merely shook his head at the Uchiha's tenacity.

"I believe that's enough." Said MIzuki with a smile as he looked at the remaining students before he realized that only one was left- _him._

"Uzumaki!" Shouted Mizuki as he took his stance. Some of the others were thrown off by the change in tone but disregarded it as Mizuki has been quite angry since Choji accidentally punched him in the crotch earlier today during his test.

Naruto took one out of Shikamaru's book and dragged his feet into the clearing and took his specialized stance, one that had no special qualities only both hands raised ready to go. Mizuki mentally snorted at the brats pathetic technique before starting off towards the blond at his regulated speeds, he couldn't go harder since he was being watched by several Chūnin and the surrounding Genin hopefuls.

Naruto kept his pose until the last possible second before leaning at a forty-five degree angle out of the way of Mizuki's haymaker. Naruto jumped up, his body completely horizontal, spun and kicked his left calf into Mizuki's throat and his right shin on the back of Mizuki's neck. With as much abdominal strength as Naruto could muster twisted his body and flipped Mizuki until he landed on his stomach.

The Chūnin grunted in agony at the blond's attack, his throat hurt and he was sure that he would have had his neck snapped if he didn't saturate his body with chakra as a reflex. Now he was pissed, with a grimace of pain Mizuki started pulling himself to his feet. Naruto saw this and weaved through hand-seals before exhaling a torrent of mud that covered Mizuki, the last Uzumaki moved his hands to the rat seal and hardened the mud into rock firmly keeping the Chūnin trapped. Naruto didn't stop there as he tossed a kunai with an explosive note attached to the back at the rock prison.

"Give up or you'll be torn to pieces!" Ordered Naruto in an uncharacteristically serious voice that caught those who knew Naruto off guard. This wasn't the lazy yet smart blond that sleepwalked his way through class, this was an extremely dangerous shinobi that took down a Chūnin within seventeen seconds.

Mizuki bit the inside of his cheek to calm himself before smiling at Naruto. "I give Uzumaki, now if you'll please."

Naruto grabbed the kunai and placed it back in his holster then put both hands on the rock surrounding Mizuki before he channeled _Doton_ chakra and caused it to crumple into dust freeing Mizuki.

Mizuki dusted himself off while silently seething, "That concludes the Combat portion! Please return to class for the ninjutsu portion."

xXx

The Konoha Academy didn't teach many jutsu to their aspiring shinobi, merely giving them the foundations for their Jōnin-sensei's to build upon. The three basic academy jutsu were created by Tobirama Senju for children to learn as a way for them to get used to manipulating their chakra in certain ways.

The _Kawarimi no Jutsu_ was one of the most useful jutsu in existence and gave Genin practice in manipulating their chakra for bursts of speed, since it requires them latch onto a target it was far safer that the _Shunshin no Jutsu._ The _Bunshin no Jutsu_ was to get those used to projecting their chakra at distances, incredibly useful yet the jutsu itself is ineffective outside of the academy as it has no offensive capabilities and isn't even that good of a distraction. Lastly, the _Henge no Jutsu_ was to get children used to manipulating their bodies with chakra to change a certain aspect of themselves either partially or completely.

With these factors, it was not without grounds that the Ninjutsu portion of the exam was the most heavily weighed part of the finals. Those who fail this fail over all unless they scored perfectly on each of them.

Naruto watched as everyone was called one by one into the next room, with his last name starting with a U he was going to be near the end. From what he could hear there hasn't been a single failure yet, surprising but not completely unbelievable as most of his class were clan shinobi.

Naruto felt someone sit next to him and turned to see the face of Sasuke Uchiha, who was giving him a curious look as if trying to figure something out.

"Yes?" Muttered Naruto.

Sasuke stared for a moment longer before speaking. "Why do you act as though you don't care about being a ninja, yet posses such developed skills? Were you trying to hide your skill?"

Naruto didn't know why he was being interrogated by Sasuke but answered none the less. "I act like this because I'm bored, I have skill because I train everyday and I don't hide my skill I just never had the chance to use them."

Sasuke seemed to accept that as he turned away and sat quietly next to Naruto, while he didn't particularly care for anyone in this class. Sasuke found that Naruto was easy to be around because he didn't constantly try to talk to him.

"So do you know any other jutsu?" Or so Sasuke thought, at least it wasn't a stupid question though.

"I know one other _Katon_ jutsu." Sasuke wasn't exactly happy that was all he had but he didn't have any way to learn anymore jutsu without going to his clan home. A place that Sasuke really didn't want to see again. "What about you?"

Naruto wasn't sure what he should tell Sasuke, flat to giving everything away seemed stupid so he held some back. "I have a few more _Doton_ that I made after mastering the jutsu you saw." He'll need _Fūton_ to himself for now.

"Sasuke Uchiha!" Called Iruka from the other room.

Sasuke gave Naruto a slight nod and got up to take his exam. Naruto was now the only one left in the classroom, wait…What the hell was he even doing here? Naruto put his hands in a unique seal and with a pop and a small puff of smoke an exact copy of Naruto was created. Naruto was about to give his clone orders to stay here before he was hit with a memory.

xXx

(Flashback)

 _"Now I'm giving you this jutsu because you are taking far too much time to do even the simplest of tasks. The Kage Bunshin no Jutsu will help you train." Instructed the Sandaime while smoking his pipe._

 _Naruto's eye twitched several times before he was hit with a potent wave of chakra, it saturated the air causing it to become heavy and bare down on Naruto almost as if the very will of the universe wanted Naruto to bow to the Sandaime._

 _"I want to make something very clear. If you use this jutsu to skip out on important tasks I will personally deal out the punishment. Do not abuse the jutsu I give you for menial tasks!"_

xXx

(End Flashback)

With that memory re-lived Naruto dispelled the clone and waited for his name to be called. It shouldn't take long as Sasuke shouldn't take more than a few s-

"Naruto Uzumaki!"

Ah, there we go.

xXx

Naruto stood in front of Iruka and Mizuki who sat behind a large table with numerous Konoha Standard Forehead Protectors on it. The blond didn't look a bit nervous as he waited to hear which jutsu would be his to show.

"Naruto, please show us proficiency in the _Bunshin no Jutsu._ " Ordered Iruka.

Naruto held the same unique seal as earlier and created two _Kage Bunshin_ next to him without a word that stood in the same slouched position as the original. Iruka was floored by the sight of a B-Rank jutsu being used by an academy student before yelling out 'Pass!'.

Naruto walked over and grabbed a headband and secured it to his forehead as he walked out of the classroom without another word.

Since today was only for the examination it ended much earlier than normal. Perhaps he could go talk to the old man about a round of training or something, whoever his Jōnin-sensei was going to be he might not have compatible skills with Naruto which could mean he was out of luck for more jutsu.

As Naruto arrived to the courtyard outside of the Academy he saw that most of the students had their families and parents there to congratulate them for becoming shinobi. Some of them became quiet when he walked outside while others just continued to talk with their families as he walked away.

"So _he's_ a shinobi now."

"I heard he was one of the top in the class."

"I hope Hokage-sama knows what he's doing."

With practiced ease Naruto ignored the not-so-subtle whispers and continued walking away. He long ago gave up on listening to them, for whatever reason they didn't like him and he was starting to share the sentiment.

"Congratulations Uzumaki-kun." Naruto turned to see a smiling Mizuki standing next to him. "If you don't mind I would like to talk to you about a possible mission."

xXx

(Hokage's Office)

The Sandaime bit the mouth piece of his pipe as he thought over what Naruto told him. It was a horrible revelation that one of his rising Chūnin, someone he was about to pass through as Jōnin was in actuality a traitor. The Hokage felt the unrivaled power that lay just beneath his skin roar to be released and he suppressed it with practiced ease, this might be a good test for young Naruto as it were.

"So he wants you to steal the forbidden scroll of seals, told you where it was and how to remove the safe guards and to meet you in the woods." Reaffirmed the Sandaime, it wasn't that good of a plan in the first place and Mizuki should have picked a far dumber person to trick than Naruto. The blond was surprisingly shrewd when he wanted to be.

"Yeah, he said that you would be gone but I know you're never that far away. Not to mention if anything, I've seen these passed few years is right Ji-chan then I don't stand even the smallest chance against you. Which is why I came to tell you instead of trying to steal the scroll." Said Naruto with a bored look before his eyes glinted. "Well I have one jutsu that would work but it's too unfair to use on you."

"Heh." The Sandaime expertly avoided that, that Kami forsaken _Oiroke no Jutsu_ could take literally any man off guard. It was as ingenious as it was stupid- overall it fit Naruto to a tee.

"Moving on. I have a mission for you," Started the Sandaime who smirked at Naruto's 'serious' face. "I want you to confront Mizuki and take him down. I will send back up but they will not interfere unless you fail. Please don't fail, it would be most embarrassing for me if my pupil couldn't take out a measly Chūnin."

Naruto stood up and rolled his eyes. "So it would be out of the question for me to have a look at the scroll for good behavior?"

The Sandaime shot him a bored look as if disappointed the words left Naruto's mouth. "You can read the whole thing once this hat resides on your head." And with that Naruto left the office to the meeting ground where he and Mizuki would face off.

xXx

(Midnight: Konoha Forest)

Konohagakure no Sato held thousands of Jōnin, but only one percent of them held the _Elite_ title. One of them happened to be the infamous Kakashi Hatake, son of the White Fang and prodigy of the highest regard. Kakashi made Chūnin at the unprecedented age of six and after several years of war and serving under Minato Namikaze he became Jōnin by his twelfth birthday. He was hailed as the strongest active duty shinobi in the entire Konoha Shinobi force with his only rival being Maito Gai.

Kakashi Hatake was many things- an Elite Jōnin, prodigy, genius… _bored_. He was tasked by the Sandaime to watch over one of his new students on his first ever mission. To take out the rogue Chūnin Mizuki, now this would be incredibly interesting as it would give him more information on his blond student. But, they have been waiting for the past three hours for the guy and Naruto has been 'reading' over a large scroll that was a replica of the forbidden one in the Hokage's vault. Stake out missions were common in ANBU but they had the sense of danger to them that this barely B-Rank of a mission clearly didn't have. His only saving grace was his orange book that he was nearing his ninth completion of.

Kakashi's senses flared and he smelt someone approaching. Ah! It was time he supposed, time to see how one of his newest students fared in real combat.

On the forest floor Naruto set down his large scroll and looked up at Mizuki, who was standing on one of the tree branches looking down at Naruto with a sneer. The blond was undeterred as he slowly and carefully threw the large scroll towards Mizuki who's eyes widened for a half second before catching the scroll.

"I must say you are the dumbest Jinchūriki I've ever heard of. I thought the Kyūbi would have told you what my intentions were! No matter, now I can kill you once and for all!" Roared Mizuki.

Naruto's eyes blew open as he understood what Mizuki said, it all came crashing down on him. It would certainly explain his treatment, he'll certainly have a talk with Ji-chan but right now he had something to do.

"Mizuki." Naruto's voice cut the tension in the area as the rogue Chūnin glared at Naruto. "I was considering fighting you, I knew this was a sham but then I thought. Why? It could be much quicker like this."

Naruto held the tiger seal as his chakra let out a minuscule pulse. "Detonate." The scroll in Mizuki's arms had a sizzling sound come from it before the five explosive notes Naruto put inside detonated causing an explosion that destroyed Mizuki, the tree he was standing on and the surrounding trees in a fiery hell storm. Naruto watched with apathetic eyes as the explosive notes obliterated everything in a fifteen foot diameter.

With his anticlimactic mission completed he had much to talk to the Sandaime about. All revolving around his supposed status as a 'Jinchūriki'.

xXx

(Next Day: Konoha Academy)

Naruto sat waiting for Iruka to arrive to announce the teams as he carefully thought over everything he was told last night. The old man left nothing to the imagination and explained everything he needed to know.

Jinchūriki were demon hosts, they held one of the nine Bijū within them by use of highly complex Fūinjutsu. Each of the great five has at least one with both Iwa and Kumo having two. Naruto was the first one Konoha has ever had who's seal allowed for him to actually use the Kyūbi's chakra. Which meant that he was expected to be able to draw upon the power and use it should the time come.

He was told that he was on the lighter side of the spectrum when it came to how he was treated. Other villages would treat them like dogs and train them from the earliest possible age and turn them into weapons for their Kage's bidding. The were even reports that the Kazekage sent assassins after his Jinchūriki son to strengthen him with actual life and death combat. Naruto was both disgusted and relieved. Disgusted at his fellow host's treatment and relieved that his Hokage was the who he was and not someone who would turn him into a weapon. There was a lot of responsibility as a host as well some- Kumo, looked to the hosts as guardians or protectors and were expected to protect home and country from any and all threats. Naruto wanted that and made an oath to achieve guardian status in his village before becoming Hokage.

"Team Seven." Naruto was brought from his thoughts when he heard Iruka announce the next team. He was with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. He was pleased that Sasuke was on his team as he was competent and a potentially good sparring partner but he didn't know that much about Sakura except that she really liked Sasuke.

Time passed and a beautiful young woman came for team eight and a very large burly man that Naruto recognized as the old man's son came for team ten. As minutes turned to hours the three members of team seven sunk into their seats as their sensei most likely forgot about them.

As the three of them lost hope that someone was coming the door slid open to reveal a very tall man with spiky silver hair. He wore the standard Konoha attire with a Konoha-Standard Dark Green Jōnin flack-jacket over it.

"Hello. Why don't you all follow me up to the roof." His lazy voice was in contrast to his right eye that was bent like a smile.

Sitting on the roof top were three Genin and Kakashi who was sitting happily while reading his orange book. Kakashi snapped his book closed and gave them all a look.

"How about we give introductions. I'll start, my name is Kakashi Hatake and I like my book I hate things, hobbies are far too adult for children and I have absolutely no dreams for the future. Now how about you on the right."

Sasuke kept his hands in front of his mouth as his voice came out steady and controlled. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha, there aren't many things I like and too many things I hate. I don't have a dream since those don't always come true but I will rebuild my clan and kill a certain man."

Kakashi's eyes glinted with interest before it went back to his usual uninterested look. ' _That won't do, I'll see to it that he changes his attitude…ANBU style._ ' It wouldn't do for Sasuke to not contribute to the team and Kakashi was nothing if not concerned about his team's teamwork. Genin had egos and Kakashi was a master of shattering those from his experience as an ANBU captan.

Sakura wiggled in her seat pushing down her blush at the incredible intro her crush just gave. Kakashi pointed to her and she gave her introduction. "My name is Sakura Haruno, I like, well the person I like…My dream is to… I hate Ino-pig and that rotten Kiba!"

Kakashi just blinked lamely at the introduction. ' _That certainly won't do. I will break that immediately, maybe I can make her cry so she'll hate me and train harder to kill me._ ' Thought Kakashi with an eye smile.

The others turned to Naruto and he looked back at them with a curious gaze and tilted his head. "What?"

They face-faulted and Kakashi rubbed his cheek with an annoyed sigh. "Introductions Naruto."

Naruto perked up at that. "Oh I wasn't even paying attention. Names Naruto Uzumaki, I like training, ramen and ninjutsu I hate some things that are unimportant. Hobbies are, well… My goal is to be Hokage and pass the trial."

Naruto managed to conceal his slight blush when he got to hobbies. It was the old man's fault for leaving out those magazines and books, now Naruto read them whenever he had the chance. They were very well written and the Sandaime's student was a master author in Naruto's opinion. But he was far too embarrassed to read them in front of people like his sensei could apparently.

Kakashi noticed Naruto's actions and smirked beneath his mask, the blond was a little perverted and Kakashi was fine with that. He was curious as to what this trial was but was sure to find out later. And much to Kakashi's surprise, Naruto didn't seem to need much of an attitude adjustment maybe a little motivation but Kakashi was far from the one to push someone to not act lazy. He barely opens his eye all the way after all.

Kakashi clapped to get everyone's attention. "Now that is just fantastic! Everyone shall now follow me to a training area so we can begin your final assessment!" The surprise in the Genin's eyes was noted but Kakashi ignored it and started to lead them to a training ground.

He was originally going to do this tomorrow but he doubted it would make a difference- Naruto and Sasuke needed to be pushed through. Both of them were far passed the necessary skill and he just wanted to make sure they could work together. Hopefully when he starts training his team Sakura will be a quick study and can contribute, because if there is one thing that legendary shinobi that are regarded as the strongest of their generation hate, it's boring D-Rank missions.

xXx

(Training Ground Three)

Training ground three was known to be the home for almost every generation of team seven. All the way back to the _Sannin_ , Naruto noted that the area was quiet standard- large patch of grass, large trees and a lake conveniently out of the way yet close.

Kakashi stood next to one of the three tree stumps and set a timer atop the middle one. "I am going to have two bells," Kakashi gestured to his hip where two silver bells hung. "The student who fails to take one form me fails and is sent back to the academy. If all of you fail then I don't have to worry about being a sensei any more. I suggest you come at me with the intent to kill otherwise I'll disregard you entirely."

The three genin took in the information with nervous eyes. This was a difficult test and was pass or fail with high stakes. Naruto's eyes glinted with determination as he tried to figure out what the meaning of the test really was, it couldn't be that simple. It was practically hammered into his head by Enma and the Sandaime that things were rarely as they seemed in the shinobi world.

"Okay…you guys can start."

With that the three Genin shot off into the forest. Naruto took position atop one of the taller trees, he was kept concealed by the lower branches and had a birds eye view of the entire area. He could see Sakura's pink hair directly below him in a bush and Sasuke was somewhere to his right also in a tree.

Kakashi seemed bored at the turn of events and just took out his book to wait for one of them to attack.

' _Okay what's the deal? Is he going to fight us as a test and let us take a bell if we impress him? Seems likely, I'll get down there to see._ ' Naruto came to this conclusion in a fraction of a moment before springing into action.

The last Uzumaki jumped towards Kakashi while fishing through his shinobi pouch to let loose five shuriken that covered the distance between himself and Kakashi in an instant. Kakashi merely slapped the throwing stars away with his book much to Naruto's annoyance.

"Not even a dodge huh, just used your book. Okay." Muttered Naruto as he stood across from Kakashi. The Jōnin in question chuckled lightly with his eye in a upside down U shape.

Kakashi closed his book and regarded Naruto with an appraising look. "Shinobi battle techniques #1: Taijutsu."

Naruto pulled out a kunai that he held in a reverse grip. Kakashi Hatake was much larger and far more physically developed to fight on even ground with his hands. Naruto with his left hand tossed another volley of shuriken towards Kakashi who this time caught them and flung them back at the blond. Naruto who was sprinting forward used his kunai to deflect the shuriken and slashed out horizontally at the Jōnin who leaned away and grabbed Naruto's extended wrist and threw him over his shoulder into the air.

Midair Naruto weaved through hand-seals, his chest filled with chakra and he expelled a steady stream of mud that became wider and wider at the end as it flew then hardened into stone. Naruto's newest jutsu _Doton: Kobushi no Iwahogasha._ Naruto hardened the end of a compacted stream of mud mid-flight that formed an enormous fist of solid rock, from practice Naruto was able to shatter boulders with this jutsu easily.

Kakashi's eyes sparkled at the interesting and deadly jutsu before he slammed his hands onto the ground creating a large and extremely dense wall of earth. The two jutsu collided with a thundering bomb that caused stone and dust to explode outward. Naruto landed in a crouch and waited for the dust to clear with another kunai held in his right hand ready to go.

Naruto felt the earth beneath him being affected by Chakra and jumped away from where he was crouched. With expert reflexes and speed Naruto managed to slam an explosive note on the ground and detonate it when he was safely away.

When the note exploded it created a crater in the earth that was wide and deep enough for a grown man to lay in and be completely concealed. When Naruto landed once again he was immediately pulled underground up to his neck and in front of him Kakashi rose from the earth not having a hair out of place.

"Very interesting Naruto, that was quite the powerful jutsu. I've never seen it before, which for me is something by the way." Praised Kakashi while looking down at Naruto.

The buried Genin rolled his eyes. "I would have been surprised if you did," Snorted Naruto. "I made it myself."

Kakashi didn't let his surprise show, shrugging Kakashi walked off to see if any of the others were just as interesting.

Naruto watched him leave with a sigh. ' _He wasn't holding back as much as he should if he wanted me to beat him. There's something more, I'm sure of it but what. Maybe one of the others could figure…it…out. THATS IT! The others! We have to work together!_ ' Realized Naruto as he started to free himself from the ground.

Sasuke Uchiha was a talented guy, he trained everyday without stopping for hours. He had the drive and the necessary talent to go far, but after seeing Naruto and Kakashi go at it he was worried that he didn't have enough. Naruto was very skilled- as much as himself if he were honest, but Kakashi came out of the exchange without a spec of dirt on his person or a hair out of place. Which was peculiar as he was underground for some of it. Maybe chakra was used to keep him clean?

Getting back on topic Sasuke palmed two handfuls of shuriken and let them fly towards his Sensei with unrivaled precision. He was momentarily caught off guard when the shuriken hit their mark, Sasuke realized why and jumped away when a log was revealed to have taken the hits.

' _I need to get away and try and corner him before using Katon to finish him off._ ' Sasuke believed that his plan was both simple and effective, he hoped at least.

Sasuke stopped on his branch when he saw Kakashi calmly watching him from a few branches away. Knowing that he had to fight now Sasuke shot forward with as much speed as he could. Kakashi was impressed by the speed and raised his palm to catch the Uchiha's punch and caught the wrist of the next one.

Sasuke twisted his body to kick Kakashi in the head while his hands were occupied, the Jōnin release one of his hands to block the kick allowing Sasuke to reach forward to touch one of the bells. Before he could grab one however he was thrown away by Kakashi who dusted himself off. ' _Impressive._ '

Sasuke stuffed both hands into his equipment pouches, the Uchiha threw two sets of shuriken that flew towards Kakashi in wide arcs. Kakashi managed to inspect each one as they flew and saw the glimmer of ninja wire attached to each. The Jōnin was impressed at the speed that Sasuke could attach wires to shuriken, it spoke of countless hours of rigorous training. As Kakashi was busy inspecting the shuriken he didn't notice that Sasuke twitched his fingers to command his shuriken to change direction mid-flight.

All ten shuriken curved and flew at Kakashi's throat, the Jōnin crouched below them and chopped his hand at the wires severing them with an application of _Fūton_ chakra. Sasuke was undeterred by the events and molded his chakra into his chest, fingers bending and flying through hand-signs.

 _Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!_

A large near meteor sized ball of red flames formed in front of Sasuke's face before covering the distance between Sasuke and Kakashi in mere seconds. Kakashi wasn't surprised by the jutsu and replaced himself with yet another log.

When the fire dissipated Sasuke saw the blackened charcoal of the log he just toasted and grunted in annoyance. Kakashi's hands erupted from the earth below Sasuke and pulled him underground similarly to Naruto at the end of their earlier fight. The white haired Jōnin rose from the ground with an eye smile.

"Very good Sasuke, very good. That was a very powerful _Katon_ jutsu, but I've seen it many times by many Uchiha. You have a lot of talent for Taijutsu, I imagine once you awaken your Sharingan your abilities will sky rocket." Praised Kakashi, truly impressed that Sasuke even managed to touch a bell. Even he wasn't above giving credit when it was necessary. "But- you didn't stand out nearly as much as I expected I would say that you and Naruto are quite even overall. By your face I can see that you already knew that, question is why did you try the same thing if Naruto failed?"

Kakashi left as quick as he entered, with a casual walk towards the bushes.

When the Jōnin was out of sight Sasuke heard someone land next to him. He was unable to see who but he already had an idea of who it was.

"I know how it feels don't worry." Came the familiar voice of his blond teammate. "I watched you two go at it, impressive wire work by the way, I never gave such techniques much thought myself."

As Naruto was talking he had one hand placed on the ground in front of Sasuke and the other in a one handed ram seal. Sasuke felt the earth surrounding him widen until he could free his arms and pull himself free. Standing up Sasuke noticed that his clothes were still clean, chakra maybe?

"So I know what's up with this test," Started Naruto breaking Sasuke from his thoughts. "He wants us to push everything aside and work together. He's was fighting too strong for us to realistically get a bell, he was caught off guard by you and then upped his speed to compensate."

It made sense to Sasuke but he didn't like the thought of having to rely on others for something like this. In the end he might have to accept though as Kakashi's skills were above his, for now. The last Uchiha sent a nod towards Naruto and they set off to find their final teammate, she was last seen-

"KYAA!"

Both boys shared a look and started running in the direction of the scream with worried expressions. Well Naruto was worried, Sasuke just had his eye brows furrowed as he ran.

Sakura was lying still on the ground with grey eyes as she was clearly under the influence of a Genjutsu. Naruto kept guard as Sasuke released her of the illusion.

Sakura woke up and blinked her eyes several times before shooting up head-butting Sasuke in the face.

"Oh Sasuke-kun! I'm so sorry." Sakura frantically check over Sasuke as he rubbed his nose while was slapping away her hands and stood up.

"Ok we need to make a plan, and we need to attack him together." Said Naruto hoping to move this along as they were on a time limit.

Sasuke nodded and Sakura stayed quiet, she was upset with her performance against her sensei after seeing Naruto and Sasuke go against him.

"Sasuke, do you have enough chakra for another _Katon_ jutsu?" Asked Naruto to which Sasuke nodded making the blond smirk.

xXx

Kakashi knew that there was a good hour before the test was up so he and his little Genin still had time. But they didn't seem to be in any sort of a hurry as there hasn't been a sound out of them in the past five minutes.

Then was very surprised when he noticed Sakura coming at him with standard academy form and academy speed with two kunai in her hands ready to kill. Kakashi let a small smile grace his masked face at her determination, maybe there was more to her than fangirl nonsense.

When she was nearing Kakashi, his senses flared from behind and was hit by a wave of mud that hardened the moment it stuck Kakashi. The Jōnin felt the heat of a fireball barring down on him, it seems that the three of them were working together. And were really trying to kill him. Excellent.

Naruto who was standing next to a shadow clone of himself holding the rat seal to keep the mud in place, weaved through seals himself. His lungs filled to the brim with chakra and his throat burned.

 _Fūton: Kazebakufu!_

The condensed ball of wind collided with the _Katon_ jutsu causing it to explode in a storm of white hot flames that destroyed the training area creating a crater at the epicenter. Sakura managed to avoid the explosion with a replacement and watch the events from a tree branch.

The three Genin met in the center of the crater with confused expressions. "So did we just kill him?" Wondered Naruto aloud, he didn't expect that but the plan did go off without a hitch.

"No. But it was a good try, I'll concede that." Came the voice of Kakashi from above them standing at the edge of the crater. Much to the annoyance of Sasuke he seemed to be completely fine and yet again with no dirt on his person, it had to be chakra there was now way mud didn't get on his clothes!

Kakashi dropped in front of them and regarded them each with extremely serious looks, it shook Sakura's nerve and made Naruto and Sasuke nervous.

"Naruto! You did very well, your Taijutsu was strong and Ninjutsu well channeled but you were too stationary after casting them. That will get you killed in the field and I won't let it go unpunished in future spars." Started Kakashi before turning his gaze to the middle.

"Sasuke! Your Taijutsu was the best of the three, that I can confirm and you managed to touch a bell. However, you were far too arrogant and didn't help Naruto during the first part of the test. Konoha is built on teamwork and if you can't follow that then you have no purpose in the shinobi force of our village." Then his eyes cut to Sakura who knew what was coming.

"Sakura! You were the worst overall, you are reported to have talent in chakra control yet you were taken down by a low-level illusion. Like Sasuke you didn't help your teammate and watched as he lost but you went one step further and didn't even help Sasuke! Your skills are bellow the expected level of a Genin but I assure you, if you can take my training that problem will be rectified in the coming months." His words sent a chill down Sakura's spine, she didn't know if she had what it took to succeed but she wouldn't let Sasuke down by giving up after coming so far.

Seeing the three of them stand firm he gave an eye smile. "With that you three pass! We will meet in front of the Academy tomorrow at seven for our first meeting." With that Kakashi left in a puff of smoke.

Naruto let out a breath and smiled. "Well that went well." Sasuke managed a smirk and Sakura smiled at the blond.

After a few seconds both Sasuke and Sakura left to go home. Naruto slowly walked out of the clearing to take a shower, he was far too sweaty to go out to eat to celebrate.

* * *

 ** _Author's Notes_**

There we go, I hope this one goes over as well as the last. I'm trying to make the story have more depth to it so sorry if it seems a little long winded but eh detail is important. Now I want to address some of the reviews that are worried about Naruto having different summons. All I can say is chill out yo. I've gots plan and I aint gonna make Naruto some chump. Just keep reading and you'll see.

Yes Sasuke is the better at Taijutsu at the moment. I always thought that the Uchiha clan should be more Taijutsu oriented than Ninjutsu as they can literally predict attacks.

Please give me feedback and reviews so I know what you like or what you don't I do reply to the ones that warrant one! Thanks for reading!

Word Count: 9,300 (longest chapter yet!)

 **Original Jutsu:**

 _Fūton: Kazebakufu_ (Wind Release: Wind Blast) C-Rank: The user molds chakra internally and blows out a concentrated ball of wind as large as a person towards the intended target. The blast is strong enough to destroy tree trucks and even the outer edge of the jutsu can shred anything near it. Masters of the jutsu can expel multiple blasts at once for even more devastating effects.

 _Doton: Kobushi no Iwahogasha_ (Earth Release: Rock fist of the Guardian) B-Rank: The user expels a stream of mud then shapes and hardens it into a large man sized fist made of stone. The power behind the jutsu is strong enough to destroy boulders and an Earth-Style wall produced by Kakashi Hatake.


	3. Gambling Town I

**Story Arc 1: Rookie Team 7**

 **Chapter 3: Gambling Town I**

* * *

xXx

(Training Ground 3)

Kakashi watched over his three charges as they were working on their chakra control. He felt that it was far more important learning control than teaching them jutsu at this point- even though they each had respectable levels of control. Sakura was leading the pack already having mastered the tree walking exercise and was sparring with his _Kage Bunshin_.

Thankfully, Sakura came around to training as hard as possible, Sasuke saw to that himself. The first time the two of them sparred, Sasuke refused to hold back and told her she was a unworthy of the title of Kunoichi if she didn't take training seriously and continued as she was. While Kakashi and Naruto felt that was a little harsh it turned out for the best when she came back the next day ready to train. Kakashi was more than happy to start working on her physical abilities and she was taking to them without a word of complaint.

Naruto and Sasuke meanwhile, are on their second day of the tree climbing exercise. Both of them had larger than average reserves, with Naruto pushing ridiculous levels already. Kakashi wasn't afraid to admit that Naruto had far more chakra than him already. In regards to the exercise however, it looked like they would be done later today at this rate.

Kakashi was hit by the memories of his clone and turned to the huffing form of his female student. She did surprisingly well but still had a ways to go before she was up to par with her teammates.

"Very good Sakura," Kakashi said while walking over to the panting kunoichi. "You lasted a little longer and your strength and speed are getting much better."

It was only thanks to her innate talent with chakra control that she was coming so far so fast. She was unknowingly using a rudimentary version of enhance body techniques, saturating her muscles in chakra to increase their effectiveness. It was something that only experienced Chūnin could do, it spoke of her natural chakra control to achieve such a thing subconsciously.

"Thanks sensei," breathed out the girl before straightening up. "I was wondering if there was something I could focus on? Naruto and Sasuke both have Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. While I…" Trailed off Sakura.

Kakashi hummed at the question. "Well your reserves aren't large enough for access Ninjutsu use. I would recommend a support type of skill set. Genjutsu may be the most difficult of the shinobi arts to master but in the hands of a master it's the most dangerous. You are also the academically smartest person on the team, along with your control- Medical Ninjutsu may be your forte." Shrugged Kakashi, which ever she picked would benefit the team until she could utilize Ninjutsu to a higher level once she had larger reserves.

Sakura pondered that, she knew about both and either of them were incredibly hard to master and took lots of book study to become even proficient at. So for now it was either or. "Kakashi-sensei, I would like to learn Genjutsu."

"Sure thing Sakura-chan! I don't have any material on me right now but I would recommend you stop by Team Eight's training ground when you get the chance. From what I hear none of them are interested in anything other than their clan jutsu or allowed anything other than such in the case of one of them." Spoke Kakashi while mentally shaking his head at the Hyuga clan's nonsensical attitude towards most things.

The Hyuga Clan were notorious for their strict rules when it came to their fighting. Unless a member of the clan was a part of a special branch of the shinobi forces like the ANBU, they weren't allowed to branch their techniques. It was only permitted that they branch out in the ANBU because the organization doesn't take shinobi who refuse to learn their jutsu because of clan politics.

Kakashi watched amusedly as his kunoichi student contemplated where to start with her training in the illusionary art.

"Oi Sasuke! If you throw another branch at me when I get higher than you I'm going to shove my fist down your throat!"

Kakashi rubbed his forehead at the exclamation. His two male students in the past two weeks have developed a little rivalry, fierce one at that and this was common among their training days- Naruto would pull ahead and Sasuke would act like a child to catch up. Then the opposite would happen and Sasuke would be trapped in a rock prison while Naruto caught up. It was as stupid as it was entertaining.

"Shut up you blond moron! That fell from above you!"

"No it didn't I was hit in the back of my head while running up a tree!"

' _Sometime's I forget that their shinobi._ ' Mused Kakashi mentally before flickering between the two boys who looked like they were about to start throwing punches.

"Now now, I don't want any unsupervised sparring. The two of you haven't finished the tree climbing exercise yet so get to it before _I'm_ the one you have to spar." The end was delivered with an evil glint in Kakashi's only visible eye making both Genin shiver.

Both Naruto and Sasuke were thoroughly aware of the fact that Kakashi could slap them around without any trouble what so ever. For now they would avoid any confrontation, especially when a vindictive Kakashi was involved. Sharing a glance the Genin looked back at their Sensei.

"Hai Sensei." Both then shot back to their respective trees to continue their training. Kakashi smiled at his little minions getting back to work. Maybe he was wrong for thinking that he would hate being a sensei. It was rewarding, easy and amusing.

"Dammit Sasuke! I know it was you that time that branch was on fire!"

"I guess nature hates you so much that it will set itself on fire to kill you!"

Definitely amusing.

xXx

(Next Day: Mission Assignment Office)

The Mission assignment Office was a wide room with a large desk that the Hokage would sit behind with several Chūnin along side of him to assist in handing out missions. Each and every mission handled by Konoha was reviewed and passed out by the Hokage himself. Then he would pick the best team available to complete it. Even though there were thousands of active duty shinobi the office was hardly ever crowded. With most missions lasting between several days and a few weeks, then having a day or two in between missions to recuperate, it worked out in a way that only a few hundred missions were assigned per day and most of those were D-Rank's for Genin teams.

The level of administrative organization in the village was unrivaled by any other of the great five, most of which would have several high ranking shinobi hand out missions rather than the Kage themselves. This system also helped with Konoha's image, clients found it incredible that the Hokage himself would listen to their mission request personally.

Kakashi stood behind his team as he waited for the Sandaime to finish looking through a pile of D-ranks for Team Seven. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura didn't look pleased but were silent in the face of their leader.

"A shipment of Kunai and Shuriken need to be delivered to the armory from the front gate. Report to Shukaku-san when you're done." Ordered the Sandaime reveling at the looks of disappointment on the Genin's faces. Oh how fun it was to hand out missions to Genin.

' _I would yell at the old man to give us something but I know that he'll just kick my ass for annoying him… Or he'll have Enma do it when we train next… Knowing the old man it' would likely be both…_ ' Thought Naruto with a sigh before following Kakashi out of the large office towards the front gate. At least it wasn't a chore, this actually did need to be done so he could take solace in that.

Naruto sleep walked through his mission alongside his team while thinking over his recent training with Enma. The Monkey king was starting to push him harder physically and giving him more advanced stances, the Monkey Fist was powerful and strong but Naruto was heavily aligned with speed and was starting to alter the style to fit him.

Enma also told him that he would need to have control or mastery of _Suiton,_ the latter was heavily recommended by both the Sandaime and Enma. Neither of them would tell him what the trial entailed other than if he was unprepared he would likely die.

Naruto absentmindedly handed another crate to a Chūnin and started walking back to the front gate for another. The Monkey King will surely tell him when he was ready but Naruto felt like he was too far behind the Sandaime. The old Sarutobi was barely fourteen when he finished the trial earning him the right to utilize the _Kongōnyoi._ Enma told him that he wasn't exactly fitted for the staff like the old Sarutobi but Naruto was receiving training in the art none the less, as it was the tradition for their summoners.

xXx

(Two Weeks Later: Training Ground 3)

"Okay you three! I thinks it's time I taught you something new and I know just what it should be." Said Kakashi as he fished around in his weapons pouch. His team had finally finished the water walking exercise.

Chakra control training usually peaked at the Water Walking Exercise for most shinobi. There are more exercises but after the water walking only experience allows for true refinement. As such his Genin were ready for whatever he wanted to teach him, in theory at least.

He handed Sakura a scroll labeled ' _Demonic Illusions_ '. "That was from Kurenai, she said that if you master the two jutsu in there to go to her."

Kakashi handed Sasuke a small square piece of paper. "I want you to channel chakra into that," Sasuke did as instructed and the paper crinkled. "Yep! You and I have the same affinity. Lightning is uncommon in countries outside of _Rai no Kuni_ , good thing you got me as sensei!" Chirped Kakashi. Sasuke nodded quietly and watched as his sensei fished out something from his pouch to give to Naruto.

"Now Naruto, I'm going to give you this." The Jōnin handed the blond a water balloon. "I want you to do as I do." Kakashi pulled out his own balloon and held it in his hand as he concentrated.

The balloon hummed with chakra as is started to violently bubble before bursting completely.

"Once you do that we'll go to step two. If you can master all three steps then you will have mastered shape manipulation and your chakra control will be even greater."

It was no jutsu but Naruto knew that mastering shape manipulation was very important for Ninjutsu users, especially ones that have a wide variety of techniques. Even more so when the shinobi that Naruto wanted to surpass was the Sandaime, a man that took shape manipulation and nature manipulation to a completely different level.

"Okay sensei any tips?" Asked Naruto, he doubted that it was just pushing his chakra into the balloon until it burst.

"Rotation." Was all Kakashi said before taking Sasuke aside to begin. Sakura having long gone to begin studying her Genjutsu scroll.

"So rotate my chakra in the balloon…" Naruto did as instructed only to receive a disk like balloon in return. "This is going to take a while…" Muttered Naruto as he kept trying different things to get the balloon to pop.

Kakashi led Sasuke over to a secluded part of their training ground. Far enough that they wouldn't hear Naruto and Sakura working but close enough to see them.

"Okay Sasuke, Lighting manipulation is quite difficult as it relies on two things- vibration and density. The higher the frequency of vibrations you generate with your chakra the more lightning you produce. But if you don't compact your lightning chakra then it will only feel like static. Take this for example."

Kakashi went through hand-signs before his right palm had a glowing orb of chakra, the chakra in his palm began to vibrate faster and faster before the orb was completely covered in lightning and giving off the sound of a thousand chirping birds. Sasuke could feel the chakra emanating from the jutsu and looked on with wide eyes.

"This is the _Chidori_ , the process you saw was much slower than what you would do in combat but I wanted you to see it." Kakashi let the jutsu fade and stood back up straight having slouched in concentration. "I compacted my chakra changing the shape into a blade, then changed its' nature by vibrating it extremely fast to create lighting. This is a very difficult jutsu but you are the only one I can teach it to as it requires the sharingan to be effective."

At Sasuke's confused look Kakashi raised his hand. "Don't worry about that, you have to learn how to generate lighting on command and activate your sharingan before we start on that jutsu." Kakashi fished out a black metal prod. "This is made from chakra conductive metal- which means it is easier for chakra to flow through it. What you're going to do is feed your chakra into it and try to create a spark at the end until the tip of it is completely consumed in lightning chakra."

Kakashi held up the metal took and the end of it glowed blue with chakra before it started sparking and crackling with lightning. Kakashi stopped channeling chakra into the tool and threw it to Sasuke who took it without a word and started focusing on his exercise.

 _Pop! Splash!_

"That's right you stupid balloon!" Hollered Naruto from across the clearing. Kakashi's lone eye widened a bit in surprise before walking over to his blond student for the next task of his shape manipulation training.

xXx

(Later that Day: Hokage's Office)

Naruto walked into the Sandaime's office while focusing on a rubber ball, his face was of the upmost concentration. So focused in his training that he didn't notice that there was a team being debriefed as he walked in the room.

Maito Gai was one of the few people in the village that has attained the title of _Elite Jōnin._ He was also the self proclaimed rival of Kakashi Hatake. He was one of the very few Jōnin that have pushed themselves past their limits in training and are coming close to achieving the coveted _S-Rank_ status. He has lethal Ninjutsu ranging two elements, surprisingly potent Genjutsu and nearly unmatched Taijutsu. Gai was renowned throughout the Elemental Nations as the premier Taijutsu specialist, falling behind only Tsunade Senju, the Yondaime Raikage and Hanzo of the Salamanders. He was an opponent that only the best would dare to fight.

The Elite Jōnin was mystified however, when a blond Genin interrupted his student, Tenten, from her telling of their latest mission to the Hokage. He was more amused than annoyed after he saw the boy mutter to himself about 'ridiculous tasks' and 'stupid sensei's'.

"Hey! This is my first mission report what the hell do you think you're doing!" Shouted Tenten as she pointed at the younger blond. She was very serious about looking professional so that she could be promoted soon.

"Huh? You say something?" Asked Naruto while still focused on his ball. He was too engrossed in training that he didn't exactly understand what she said.

Tenten looked like she would explode on the younger Genin but reigned it in as she was in front of the Hokage. Gai in the back went rigid at Naruto's comment before anime tears fell from his eyes as he turned to the sunset that he himself created in the office.

"YOSH! My rival has finally taken a team! Our wonderful students shall battle to see which sensei is the most youthful teacher!" Neji and Tenten's heads dropped while Lee's eyes watered at the proclamation as he cheered for his sensei.

The forgotten Sandaime rubbed his temples as his foolish student derailed the entire mission report. Naruto slowly walked behind the Hokage's desk and put the old man between himself and the strange Jōnin.

"Psst. Old man," Whispered Naruto getting the Sandaime's attention. "Who is this guy?"

Before the Hokage could retort Maito Gai introduced himself to Naruto. "I am the youthful Green Beast of the Leaf, Maito Gai! This is my team. Neji Hyuga, Tenten and Rock Lee!" Shouted Gai as he gestured to each of the Genin.

Neji had the look of an angry jaded veteran. His face was iron and his expression showed angry resignation, like all this was happening because of someone else's influence and he couldn't do anything about it.

Tenten was looking Naruto over with calculative eyes. She was a very pretty girl in Naruto's opinion, she didn't have an angry expression more along the lines of interested yet serious. Naruto was interested in finding out more about her when he saw several sealing scrolls on her person.

The last, Lee, was wearing an identical green leotard as his sensei. His eye brows and hair were done in the exact same style and Naruto briefly wondered if they were father and son but disregarded the thought when he kept hearing 'Gai-sensei!' and 'Lee!' over and over.

"Quiet!" Shouted the Sandaime having enough. "Team Gai, you are dismissed. Tenten-chan that was a fine report."

Tenten glowed under the praise and practically floated out of the office with her team behind her. Neji shook his head at his teams antics, they were strange but this was a normal occurrence to him.

With Team Gai gone Sarutobi turned to Uzumaki. "Now why would you just barge in unannounced my fool of a pupil?" Grunted Hiruzen, honestly he didn't mind but had this been an important meeting that he didn't have the clearance for he could get into a lot of trouble.

Naruto presented the Sandaime with a rubber ball. "I need to pop this. It won't pop. I would like help." Said Naruto blankly. The damn thing only leaks with chakra, it wont pop and he's using more chakra now than the strongest _Doton_ jutsu in his arsenal.

' _So you're teaching him the Rasengan so that he can master Shape Manipulation and to have a powerful close range jutsu as well. Kakashi's quite the clever one as always._ ' Mused Hiruzen.

"I'm going to tell you right now." Naruto turned to the Sandaime letting the chakra in the ball dissipate. "You're not using near enough chakra."

Naruto's eye widened for a moment before he nodded. Maybe he'll try-

"Why are you still here!? I have work to do brat get out!" The Sandaime's yelling was further supplemented by a large book nailing Naruto in the face. Understanding that he wasn't wanted any longer Naruto went to leave the office.

However before the blond could leave and the Sandaime to further reprimand him the door to the office burst open once again with a smoke bomb following.

' _Have I lost so much respect with my shinobi that people feel they can just break in whenever they want?_ ' Wondered Hiruzen with a down cast expression.

"Old Man this is it!" Roared a very young voice. Getting a look of realization from the Hokage and a confused one from Naruto.

' _Ah that would explain that._ ' Mused Hiruzen re-lighting his pipe and waited to enjoy the show.

' _What the hell is going on?_ ' Wondered a bemused Naruto as he watched an nine year old kid launch paper shuriken at the Hokage, all of which fluttered in the wind a foot after he threw them.

Konohamaru looked at his failed weapons with a thunderstruck expression. ' _How could this surprise attack fail?_ ' Konohamaru then noticed another person in the room and final realized what happened.

"YOU! You sabotaged my attack!"

Naruto didn't know what to say to that, he's never even seen this kid now he some how thwarted his attack. "Gomen, Shinobi-sama. Gomen." Apologized Naruto with raised hands not wanting to be on the receiving end of one of these 'attacks'.

The Sandaime next to him snorted in amusement.

"You better be," Started Konohamaru with a puffed up chest after being called 'lord ninja'. "I would have defeated grandpa right then and there if it weren't for you."

Naruto smirked hearing that, this was his chance to get back at the old man for his constant teasing. "Oh yeah? Tell ya what, I'll teach you the perfect jutsu for defeating the old man. One that's unbeatable!"

Konohamaru's eyes lit up while the Sandaime looked thunderstruck. "Now wait a second!" ' _And they're gone…how troublesome. If Konohamaru bursts into here transformed into a naked women I will be defeated and my reputation ruined._ '

xXx

(Later that Afternoon: Lagoon Training Ground)

"…So that's why you want to defeat the old man huh." Mused Naruto, he could understand it. Living in the shadow of the Sandaime must be trying, he can barely stand it and not that many people even know.

"Yeah…" Muttered Konohamaru. The young boy felt a hand ruffle his his hair and looked up at Naruto.

"If you want to surpass the old man and become Hokage. You'll have to go through me first!" Challenged Naruto getting wide eyes out of Konohamaru.

"You're on! From here on out we're rivals!" Naruto smirked at the kid, he was certainly tenacious and that was something the blond admired. Even if the kid was a little on the slow side. Who thinks that paper shuriken would take down a kage?

 _Pop!_

"Yes!"

The Naruto in front of Konohamaru suddenly burst into smoke and a haggard looking Naruto walked over to him from the tree line.

"Wait what? How did?" Sputtered Konohamaru as he pointed to the place between the real Naruto and the place the other just was.

"Don't worry about it Kono, lets get you back to the village, and remember! Only use that jutsu when it's inconvenient for the Sandaime otherwise he can play it off." Ordered Naruto with a glint in his eyes. He may not be able to beat the old man right now but he sure as hell can torment him by corrupting his grandson.

xXx

(One Week Later: Training Ground 3)

Nature manipulation was one of the hardest branches of the shinobi arts. By changing the properties of your chakra you can manipulate it to take the form of one of the five basic elements. Mastering one element for an average shinobi takes years even if it's their affinity, some even longer and even then they never fully master an element. Mastering a second is even harder as it's not the users naturally aligned element. It's strongly recommended by the Hokage that Jōnin have proficiency in at least two Nature transformation, not mastery but proficiency.

Naruto at the unprecedented age of ten mastered basic _Doton_ manipulation catching the surprise of Enma and the Sandaime. A week later the Hokage started taking an interest in his training personally and tested him for his affinity- Wind. From there they trained until Naruto showed enough control to learn jutsu for _Fūton._ With the use of _Kage Bunshin_ and their memory transfer ability, Naruto manage to complete the first wind manipulation step just after his Genin graduation then shortly after that mastered his first _Fūton_ jutsu. At the unprecedented age of twelve Naruto was close to basic mastery of two elements. A feat only accomplished by the legends of the past, it spoke of his talent in Ninjutsu and his aptitude for learning new jutsu.

Naruto has a natural talent for Ninjutsu, that much is undeniable. However he could not _keep the stupid balloon from popping!_ The third step of Kakashi's shape manipulation was the hardest thing he's ever had to do and he's been training with the Monkey King in taijutsu. Which involved boulders, yelling and tears. Naruto's tears.

Naruto could hear the crackle of lightning on his right as Sasuke was showing off his mastery of the first step in _Raiton_ manipulation. Sakura was off with Team Eight's Jōnin leader for private Genjutsu instruction. The blond was happy that she was learning new jutsu to contribute but she was the only one he could talk to as Sasuke had a one track mind during training and Kakashi liked to read over social interactions.

As his next balloon predictably popped Naruto fell on his but with a sigh. "How annoying." Muttered Naruto.

"Don't look so upset it took me months to get that down." Reassured Kakashi from a bit away. "Unfortunately training today is going to end early. We have a C-Rank mission to pick up from Hokage-sama."

Naruto's face brightened up at the thought of a new mission while Sasuke put down his lightning rod with a smirk. The three of them started heading towards the Hokage's office where Sakura was waiting.

Team Kakashi stood in front of the Hokage waiting to be briefed on their assignment.

"Your mission is to Tanzaku Quarters to investigate the disappearances of the several civilians and a group of the police force. The head administrator of Tanzaku Gai is very worried." Finished the Sandaime waiting for any questions when there wasn't one he dismissed Team Seven.

xXx

(Road to Tanzaku Quarters)

Tanzaku Gai was the largest non shinobi village in the entire country of _Hi no Kuni_ , it was home to nearly sixty-thousand civilians. It was the premier gambling hub in the entire continent and people from all over come for the annual poker tournament at the end of the year. The Castle itself was a ancient relic of a forgotten time. Most history of the castle was unknown but the paintings and scripture found inside spoke of a queen that ruled over the land with the powers of a god. Not much else was deciphered from the ancient texts but it was apparent that it was before even the Warring States Era.

Naruto and the others of team seven came upon the sight of an enormous castle that was towering over a large village. The Genin gawked at the sheer size of the castle while Kakashi mused of his book.

"What do we do first sensei?" Asked Sakura. With the sheer size of the place it was impractical to search the entire place themselves.

Kakashi closed his book and looked over the village. It would take far too long to look themselves and they didn't even know who was the one abducting people nor why. "We need to find the head administrator and get all the information we can."

As the Jōnin and three Genin walked through the streets of Tanzaku Gai they watched as people argued over losing bets. Fight over a women at the bars and general adultery that had Sakura huff as she walked though. Sasuke and Naruto just looked around hoping to find something while Kakashi was admiring the women at the bars.

The Administrative office in Tanzaku Gai was located just outside of the castle. The building was a large two-level building that was reinforced by high-level fūinjutsu to keep it sturdy. The basement-levels were also where the village's vault was located. With the amount of money that comes through the village the Hokage himself made sure that the vault was secure with seals, the amount of things one could do with that much money was too scary to think about.

Team Seven entered to see several office assistants running stacks of papers to and from different offices while businessmen were talking to each other.

"Welcome, how may I help you?" Asked the secretary sitting at the front desk. She was a very attractive women with short black hair and dark eyes.

Kakashi walked up to the desk and gave the women and eye smile. "Ah, we have been hired by the head administrator. We would like to speak to him."

The women nodded as she looked over a stack of papers on her desk, after humming a few times she looked back up. "He has time now but only a few minutes so you can go up to speak to him."

The Jōnin nodded and gestured for his team to follow as they went to the upstairs office. Naruto felt a sort of familiarity in the building, it was like a smaller version of the Administrative Building back in Konoha with all the hustling office workers transferring paper work around with a general sense of urgency.

Arriving at the Head Administrator's office Kakashi opened the door and the team walked in. There was a small man sitting behind the desk, he was clearly a civilian based on his portly build and had a mousy type face held together by his black rimed glasses.

"Ah! Konoha Shinobi welcome welcome." His voice was nasally and it further pushed the image of a weak office worker to Naruto.

The four man squad stood in front of the desk. "We were hoping you could give us some information about the mission." Spoke Kakashi.

"My name is Hikoro and I wanted you all to come and look into the disappearances that have started happening in the recent weeks. It started when one of the high rollers went missing then a few more after him. We've had a group of the local police look into it but they themselves are now missing. Civilians aren't cutting it so I've hired you lot to look into it, a shinobi's touch should do it. I don't expect anything more than some kind of animal or civilian criminal seeing as how no shinobi passing through here have been touched."

Team Seven absorbed the information none more so than Naruto who fiddled with his shirt in excitement. ' _Detective Naruto, he'll solve the case without a second to waste._ ' One of the few television shows when he was younger he was able to watch featured a private investigator solving mysteries. If only the five year old version of himself could see him now.

Kakashi's lone eye narrowed as it stared into space. "Were all the abductions outside of the quarters or were they sporadic?"

The administrator rubbed his chin thinking over the information while his other hand tapped the desk rapidly. "All of the abductions happen outside of the quarters except for the first one that happened in an alleyway near the Empty Bottle. It's a bar near the outskirts of the quarters."

"I see," Muttered Kakashi. "Very well, I'm sure this will be handled within the day, Hikoro-san."

xXx

The Empty Bottle was a rundown looking bar. The wood was cracked and the paint was chipped. The exterior looked unkept as if the building itself was going to collapse any minute.

Sakura looked uneasy as she followed her team towards the alley way. She knew it was meaningless for a shinobi to be worried about a civilian confrontation when it came to one on one, even more so four on one and one of whom being Kakashi-sensei. Her teammates didn't look worried; Sasuke was his usual quiet self with the blank expressionless exterior while Naruto looked like he was trying to conceal his excitement but came off as constipated. Sometimes her blond teammate just flat out confused her with his strange antics and rollercoaster of a personality.

"Sensei," Muttered Sasuke. "If this happened weeks ago what can you hope to find here?" It was a reasonable question as there wouldn't be any traces left that led anywhere.

Kakashi's response was to prick his finger with a kunai and run through hand-signs before slamming his hand on the ground.

 _Kuchiyose no Jutsu!_

A fūinjutsu formula sprouted from the area he hit and a puff of smoke emerged from the seal. When the smoke cleared a small pug was sitting at attention. He wore a konoha headband and a blue vest.

Naruto and Sasuke raised eyebrows at the summon while Sakura had hearts in her eyes as she quietly squealed to herself while looking over the puppy.

"Kakashi." The dog's voice was so deep it threw the three Genin off. The dog was about to talk once again but Kakashi beat him to the punch.

"Pakkun," Kakashi's voice snapped the Genin and the dog out of their thoughts as they paid attention to the conversation. "I need you to see if there are any traces left over. It'll be old pushing a month maybe more, anything you get will help."

The dog saluted and started to sniff around and started walking towards the corner of the alleyway. The Empty Bottle's back wall was chipped and Pakkun focused on it long enough that Kakashi walked over to inspect it with Naruto and the others not far behind.

Kakashi rubbed his hands on the damaged spot with a narrowed eye. This wasn't from wear and tear it was caused by a jutsu, which meant one thing- Shinobi. Kakashi lifted up his headband revealing his sharingan.

The eye took in every detail on the wall in a millisecond. The wall was hit by a jutsu, it couldn't have been fire since it wasn't ash, lightning because it wasn't precise enough, wind because the impacted area was too small and seemed shriveled. It was _Suiton_ and a rare type at that.

Kakashi re-covered his Sharingan and let out a sigh. The wall was hit by a water jutsu that utilized extremely hot water to further damage the target. Only one village in the world knew techniques like that- Yugakure no Sato. The village was disbanded near a decade ago to instead change the village into a tourist attraction to make money.

Kakashi idly wondered if the rise of the Cult of Jashin and the Raikage's fury wasn't the real reason. It was well known at the time that the cult was attracting more and more followers and were starting to invade _Shimo no Kuni._ The Yondaime Raikage and his village's two _S-Rank_ shinobi marched on the cult and slaughtered each one and threatened _Yu no Kuni_ with an invasion if it happened again. Normally the Yondaime Raikage wouldn't hesitate to spread his countries influence but the war had only recently ended and even he was tired of fighting. It was only two years later he would attempt to take a Hyuga for their bloodline almost causing the fourth shinobi war.

The Jōnin shook his head to clear the unnecessary thoughts. If a Yu shinobi was hear abducting and most likely killing people then this was a serious problem. The hot water jutsu were only known to the Jōnin of the village so that would mean the enemy was a very experience Jōnin. ' _Likely A-Rank like myself or possibly stronger, especially if it's him. That would be impossible though, he was killed by the Raikage._ '

"Okay you three, this mission just got a little more tricky."

* * *

 ** _Author's Notes_**

-First off there is a link in my bio to a map that will be the reference point for this and all my other stories because unlike the one on the wiki it is completed with all of the countries.

There you have it the first part of the first arc. This will cover two missions, the one currently and another afterwards likely five to six chapters. The enemy coming up isn't an OC he's actually in one of the movies, not a main villain but a Hot Water shinobi. A hint is he had a minor part in the blood prison movie. That movie isn't going to be used only the character.

The training is moving along, Naruto is mastering his chakra, Sasuke's learning lightning and Sakura's contributing. Woo! I have Ideas for all of the things that people are wondering about, I'm not sure exactly if I'm going to do the Senjutsu stuff or how but for other things I got it all written out on my story outline. The Demotsuchi and Gaara fights are going to be awesome (I hope) and yes Demotsuchi is coming back for the re-write he was awesome even in my horribly written first attempt at this story. *sighs sadly*

For the Gai information, he can use chakra and has two natures, lightning and fire(check the wiki). The sunset stuff with lee is the genjutsu I was talking about. He'll still be the same Taijutsu badass we all know and love but I was giving him more to show his level of power.

For the chakra control stuff. The Rasengan takes shape manipulation to the highest level that much is a fact stated several times. It also require extremely fine tuned control to use it with one hand, so if Naruto can use it with one hand he has mastered shape manipulation and his control with be really good.

I have a lot planned for the story and this is likely going to take over as my highest priority with Different Beginnings right behind it and the others behind that.

I can't think of anymore things that could get complaints so there we go!

Leave a **Review** because that helps make the story better if you tell me what really stupid and whats awesome or cool so I can continue.


	4. Gambling Town II

**Story Arc 1: Rookie Team 7**

 **Chapter 3: Gambling Town II**

"Okay you three, this mission just got a little more tricky."

Naruto rubbed his chin as he nodded. "I agree, if the civilian can crack wood then he will certainly be strong enough to cause severe bruising, if not even break bones." Despite the nonsense that he was spouting his face was extremely serious, his teammates and sensei just shook their heads.

"Yes Naruto." Placated Kakashi getting a beaming smile out of the blond.

"But this was done with a _Suiton_ jutsu, a rare and high-class one. I'm going to take a look around the surrounding forests and I want you three to look through the village, don't engage anyone that may be the target, come find me or flare your chakra so we can take them together. Understood?"

The three Genin nodded to their sensei. Kakashi sent lingering looks before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Okay," Started Sasuke not wasting anytime. "I think we should split up." Instead of waiting for the others to respond Sasuke just started walking away.

Naruto sent Sasuke a deadpan look before turning to his female teammate. "You want to split up as well?"

His eye brow developed a twitch when he turned to see his female teammates retreating form. ' _So she won't even say bye or good luck, nothing… I'm surrounded by teme's._ '

Disregarding his teammates apparent loner complexes Naruto started off in a new direction, he could see all the people going into gambling houses and some of the more grizzly ones going into the bars.

Tanzaku Gai was known as the third largest village in _Hi no Kuni_ right behind _Konoha_ and the capital, home to thousands of citizens and even more tourists. Three Genin couldn't hope to find anything without incredible luck. Naruto was told by the Sandaime that he had the makings of a sensor, apparently the Uzumaki were very talented in the art and he was beginning to develop abilities. While the Sandaime wasn't a sensor himself, he knew plenty of ways to train those abilities. You didn't train under a sensor of Tobirama Senju's caliber without picking up a few tips.

Naruto jumped to a rooftop and knelt down to concentrate. He held the ram seal and took in his environment, he could feel the presence of the occupants in the building bellow him. Two large men and a women, their chakra signatures were very small clearly civilian levels. As he continued to steady his breathing and concentrate, he could feel more and more people.

The last Uzumaki choked on his spit when he got to the gambling house on the corner, someone was here and their chakra was _dense_. Based on his lessons, dense chakra was a sign of concealment- packing your chakra together tighter and tighter conceals its' presence, or if your chakra was so developed that it was naturally strong. Whichever it was, Naruto needed to go take a look, he had neither the want nor the time to find his team.

As he got closer he could feel the chakra clearer and began to evaluate whether or not he should approach. Shaking his head and finding nothing wrong with taking a peak inside Naruto inched closer to a window.

Naruto looked into the gamboling house with narrowed his eyes, he knew who was in there, she was the most famous kunoichi in the world- Tsunade Senju. She was one of those _S-Rank_ monsters, perfect chakra control and a fellow student of the legendary _Shinobi no Kami._ Her medical abilities were capable of healing any wound with minimal effort. Her chakra enhanced strength allowed her to crack mountains with a single punch. With the abilities to heal nearly any wound in seconds without much effort, being able to obliterate an opponent with a single punch and Taijutsu that was nearly unrivaled in the entire world. She was one of those _S-Rank_ monsters that could turn the tides of an entire battle field by her mere presence. He knew this, because it has.

Naruto felt someone bump into him and he turned to apologize. "Oh I'm sorry! I was too busy thinking and not paying attention."

The women smiled, she had short black hair and a black kimono. She was carrying a pig that was looking at him with more intelligence than a pig should have, considering it's food. "It's fine, we're alright." She said gesturing to herself and the pig.

Naruto sent a slight smile at the lady before taking a deep breath. He was going to talk to the last Senju, he just had to meet her. Naruto tentatively took a few steps into the gambling house and watched as Tsunade lost spectacularly. What were the odds that a four of a kind of aces would beat the women when she had four kings, that was just amazingly terrible luck.

Naruto felt his heart beat thump faster and faster as he stepped forward. He noticed that all of their eyes were on him as he stood practically over the table sweating slightly. Closing his eyes and calming down Naruto took a seat and threw a wad of ryo at the table.

Tsunade nearly snarled at the blond when she saw his headband, so they were coming for her huh? She wouldn't let him have it easily.

"What's a little baby like you doing here?" Sneered Tsunade before taking a swig from a sake saucer with noticeable content in her eyes.

Naruto cleared his throat, "I happened to notice you and decided to introduce myself, my name is Naruto Uzumaki new Genin." Said Naruto before taking a look at his cards, two aces.

Tsunade's face was completely unimpressed but she was mentally frowning. The kid seemed familiar but she had no interest in figuring out who he was. To her, anyone from that kami forsaken village was of no interest.

"So thats supposed to mean something to me?" Asked Tsunade, she didn't care if he was the Hokage, she wasn't going back to that hell hole. Not while she still had a heart beat.

They both flipped their cards and Naruto smirked before taking his winnings, this was nice. Kakashi doing all the work while he won some money in a poker game. Looking at his fellow blond's irritation he reevaluated the situation, hopefully she won the next one or else this place may become a pile of rubble.

Naruto noticed the black haired women that bumped into him whispered into the _Sannin's_ ear and the living legend stood up to leave. Naruto grabbed all of his money and went after them, he couldn't let this meeting all be for nothing. Maybe he could get something out of the _Sannin_ before they had to leave.

"Wait!" Shouted Naruto in the middle of the street towards the two women. Tsunade turned around with an annoyed look and the other women shook her head. She had seen many a person try to ask for something from Tsunade only to be harshly shot down.

"I wanted to ask you something, if I ever saw you, I promised myself that I would at least ask." Naruto pushed down the blush of embarrassment at all the attention he was getting by passerby's on the street.

"I want to learn your chakra enhanced strength." It was a bold request he knew that, but if this retired shinobi had no interest in returning to _Konoha_ then maybe some of her jutsu could.

The dark haired women's jaw hit the ground after hearing the request, she tentatively turned to her master hoping that her lady wouldn't lose it. Shizune actually tried to learn the Chakra Enhanced strength, but her reserves weren't strong enough for more than two punches before she nearly destroyed her arm, making Tsunade deem the technique forbidden. That and Tsunade didn't like teaching anyone her stuff other than the black haired women.

"You got a lot of nerve," Tsunade marched over to the younger blond and grabbed the scruff of his shirt. "Why would I ever consider such a thing?" She snarled into his face, even to someone who didn't know the Senju's reputation she was intimidating. To someone like Naruto…

Naruto's fight or flight instincts were now primarily leaning towards flight, "I j-just thought that since we were s-sibling students you'd let me give it a shot." Suddenly Naruto fell from the air and hit his butt on the ground as the blond women stared at him as if trying to figure him out.

"What do you mean?" That crazy old monkey couldn't have taken another student, could he? He was like three hundred years old. She was also surprised that he was still active, that couldn't be good for his health maybe… No she wasn't going back.

"Sandaime-sama has been training me, as well as-" Naruto flew through seals before slamming his hand on the ground. A large puff of smoke erupted from the ground and it dispersed to reveal the Monkey King Enma.

"This better not be to ask what I think about some new jutsu brat! I get it you can weave hand-seals in a slightly different pattern!" Roared the Monkey King getting a sweat drop to fall from Naruto's head. One time did he summon Enma to ask what he thought of a _Doton_ jutsu now he brings it up every time.

"No no, I was talking to Tsunade-sama! I thought that you would like to see her after such a long time." Replied Naruto quickly hoping to ease the situation. They apparently used to train together so maybe seeing an old friend would help out his cause.

Tsunade watched the entire exchange with shock, to think that Sarutobi-sensei would let someone other than family sign the monkey contract. If this blond was being trained by her sensei then that meant that they were sibling students, several decades apart but technically it was true. How… strange.

"Tsunade-chan, look at you all grown up. Still over extending your left arm?" Challenged Enma, the two of them were training partners for Taijutsu quite often during Tsunade's Genin days. Her teammates would rather sprint around the village one hundred times than spar with the Monkey King, while Tsunade was far more Taijutsu oriented and loved sparring with the ape.

Smiling slightly at her old friend/sensei, she inclined her head slightly. "Enma, whats with this brat why's sensei training him and why does he think I should teach him my strength?"

Naruto's face went from interested at the conversation to absolutely horrified, hopefully Enma won't take this personally. Glancing upwards Naruto saw the furious eyes of Enma glaring down at him.

"Enma you don't have to stay if you don't want to I'm sure your very busy—" A giant hairy fist smashed down onto Naruto's head getting a mirthful chuckle out of the blond Senju.

"You don't dismiss me brat! I dismiss myself! Did I not give you enough strength conditioning that you had to ask Tsunade for her specialty?! Wait until we train next brat, I'll make sure you're really strong." And with that the monkey dispersed in a puff of smoke.

"Good going Naruto." He chided to himself. It didn't help that the two women were chuckling at his misfortune, the dark haired women leaned down and touched his head with a glowing palm giggling the whole time. Naruto felt the pain leave almost immediately after her healing jutsu touched his skull.

"Well brat as impressive as this was. I have things to do so leave me alone and never comeback." Both women disappeared in a flawless body flicker without a trace. Naruto groaned before walking off to find his teammates.

He recalls that he was supposed to be on a mission or something?

xXx

(With Kakashi)

Kakashi didn't like the situation that this mission has turned into. A _Yugakure_ Jōnin was apparently kidnapping and likely killing civilians for kami knows why. His summons could only find pockets of chakra in the surrounding forests but nothing substantial and the enemy was a master of concealing his tracks.

' _Maybe I should try to lure him to me? Make my presence hard to follow but not impossible. That way he might think I'm just over confident or arrogant rather than intentionally letting him find me?_ ' Wondered Kakashi. He knew that this opponent was tough possibly even a monstrous _S-Rank_. He may have taken down enemies of that level but that was when he had a squad of ANBU watching his back rather than green as grass Genin to worry about.

' _I'll have to handle this carefully._ ' Thought Kakashi before moving deeper into the forest leaving extremely subtle tracks that only an expert could hope to find.

xXx

(With Naruto)

' _So… I have been searching this place for a good hour and nothing out of the ordinary. Who knows where the others are and to be honest I couldn't care less, they ditched me!_ ' Whined Naruto mentally, just as he was about to continue on he heard the sounds of muffled yelling.

In the alleyway to Naruto's left a man was standing over a wiggling sack as he dusted himself off. He was easily six feet tall with short silver-grey hair and and a slight wrinkly face to show his age. He was covered by a long black cloak that seemed to blend into the shadows of the alley and he picked up the sack and there it over his shoulder. The Man effortlessly jumped to the roof tops and casually made his way to the forests.

' _That's the guy! I need to follow and alert Kakashi-sensei!_ ' Thought Naruto before summoning a small monkey that jumped up and and down excitedly as it chattered away.

"Listen! I need you to find Kakashi and give him this.-" Naruto handed the monkey a small scroll. "-do it as fast as possible please!" The monkey ran off as quickly as it could and Naruto jumped away to follow the man.

Naruto stayed back as far as he could while keeping the man in sight. He was nervous about his first confrontation but couldn't help the feeling in his chest showing his rise in excitement.

The man's movements were fluid and swift. Naruto couldn't outright keep up without alerting him to his presence so he was slowly losing ground. They were nearing edge of the village and getting towards the forests, Naruto may lose him if they enter the forest so he had to think of something fast.

Naruto's mind worked as fast as it could. If his opponent was as elite as Kakashi hinted at he would have eight to thirteen seconds of combat before he was overtaken, that was the longest he's survived in a spar against the Sandaime and it was best to overestimate his opponent rather than to underestimate. They were less than ten seconds away from the forest line and his monkey has been heading towards Kakashi for a bit more than thirty seconds, he shouldn't take much longer. Taking into account the time it would take Kakashi to unravel the note and find him, he would need to distract and hold the man in place for twenty seconds minimum.

' _Good thing I can make a couple clones to cause confusion and I have the element of surprise._ ' Mused Naruto before making three clones all going in different directions already knowing the blonds plan.

Naruto's heartbeat picked up the pace and readied himself for combat. The man broke the forest line and Naruto's first clone began the combat by hurling three kunai with explosive notes attached at the man from above in the trees.

The second and third Naruto molded their chakra's readying a jutsu. While the real Naruto watched from a safe distance away.

xXx

He was being followed, ever since the alleyway where he captured his new bounty. Whoever it was had skill but was inexperienced in tailing, he couldn't get a read on whoever it was but he could tell they were behind him about thirty meters.

When his follower split his chakra he could get a better read. A clone jutsu such as that was the _Kage Bunshin_ , and for them to have that much chakra they were of at least Jōnin level and where one _Konoha_ shinobi was another few were backing them up. He would have to play this carefully less he lose his newest catch. His most valuable one yet.

As he broke the tree line he pushed chakra into his body in preparation. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up causing him to jump away, his instincts were well founded because the second he did the area he was standing on exploded.

Still in the air from a jump he saw an powerful looking _Doton_ jutsu coming at him, obviously from a clone meaning there were at least two more attacks coming at him. Deciding on a plan of attack he dropped his catch towards the ground and launched himself towards his kunai throwing opponent while weaving seals.

His opponent came into sight and his eyes widened seeing that his opponent was some kid. How could a kid have such?…No! They didn't…

Not stopping his momentum he lashed out with a lightning fast palm thrust destroying the clone and releasing a highly compacted beam of water that sizzled as it flew, with the steam coming off of it, it was easy to assume the water was boiling hot.

The clone was hit by the jutsu and instantly dispersed into smoke. The third clone, still building chakra was sliced in half by the man's kusarigama.

xXx

' _Holy hell! They're already gone that was barely a few seconds! I need—_ ' Naruto jumped out of the way of a widely arching kusarigama that nearly pierced his throat.

Not stopping for a second Naruto created another team of clones that shot into different directions to try and get around his opponent for an attack on the man's blind spot.

Naruto pushed his chakra outwards and latched onto a branch at his eight o'clock to try and throw his opponent of guard. The instant his replaced himself the man was forced to dodged three _Fūton_ jutsu that obliterated the tree he was standing on.

Naruto landed by the sack and was instantly alerted of the memories of his clones untimely end causing him to lose faith in his ability to hold the man off while waiting for Kakashi. Before the man was close enough to attack Naruto he jumped out of the way of something and started rapidly swinging his weapon around seemingly having a battle with the air surrounding him.

Naruto looked confused for a moment before hearing someone land next to him and let out both a sigh of relief and a groan of worry. He was happy for support but he was hopping for Kakashi.

"Naruto is this the—"

Naruto held up his hand to stop her from continuing. "No talk time plan now! He's extremely fast and skilled likely Kakashi-sensei's level. We have roughly thirteen more seconds until Kakashi gets here so keep him in that jutsu while—"

Both Genin turned their heads towards the sack that was violently shaking, Naruto tackled Sakura to the ground as the bag caught on fire.

"ARG!" Came the familiar sound of aggravation.

Naruto smirked and got off of a slightly red Sakura and watched as Sasuke padded himself off and made sure he wasn't on fire.

"So, he captured you…" Commented Naruto.

The blond's eyes widened as a kunai was aimed at his throat. "You won't speak of this." Glared Sasuke with his bloody red eyes. Wait!

"Sasuke, your eyes! You unlocked your sharingan!" Congratulated Naruto. This meant that their spars were going to get a lot more interesting once they finish their mission. The mission!

"Good, I was worried that you didn't posses your clan's kekkei genkai. Now you'll be worth ten times the money." Came a deep voice. The three Genin turned their eyes towards the source of the new voice and saw that their opponent was out of the Genjutsu and completely fine.

The three genin could only see a blur coming at them from the man's arm, Sasuke managed to realize it was a kusarigama and went for a kunai in his pouch. Naruto and Sakura were trying to process what was happening, before they could another blur intercepted the flying weapon and landed in front of the three genin.

"That was a close one huh?" Came the cheerful voice of their sensei getting sighs of relief from team seven.

The kusarigama was pulled back into the man's arm as he took a ready stance. "Kakashi Hatake, elite Jōnin, bounty of 150 million ryo dead or alive, triple if the Sharingan is intact. It seems this is my lucky day."

Sasuke had a look of realization on his face at those words, he'd been wondering why Kakashi created a jutsu that only works with a sharingan when he wasn't an Uchiha. It would seem that he somehow possessed one.

Kakashi pulled up his headband to reveal the scarred flesh and glowing blood red Sharingan that spun hypnotically. "It's been a few months since I looked in the bingo book but I don't think I recognize you, care to introduce yourself friend?"

The man didn't respond only blasting off of the ground towards Kakashi with unreadable speed for anyone in the clearing save for Kakashi.

Naruto turned to his teammates with a raised eyebrow. "So I guess we should back sensei up? I can't really tell whats happening can you guys?"

Sakura shook her head. "I can hear it but they're only blurs."

"Same." Grunted Sasuke, he didn't expect to be all powerful with his kekkei genkai but he didn't think he'd only get marginally better. He doubted either of them were as strong as his brother and here they are fighting at a level he couldn't even see. It was disheartening to realize that he was still so far away from his brother's level.

"I got an idea guys," Said Naruto with a grin. "Now here's what we're going to do."

 ** _Author's Note_**

Short Chapter? Yes. Take way longer to post? You betcha. Am I sorry? Mmhm.

Sorry for a lack of updates in my Naruto stuff, but I have a Harry Potter story that had taken all my creative ideas away (still kinda is if I'm honest) and I was running with it as the ideas flowed. _In his Pocket_ is the title if any of you are interested. I'm 1k into chapter 5 for this story as an update to my progress here.

So overall Naruto and co. are confronting Kazan, who is a shinobi from one of the movies I think blood prison, obviously I made him stronger and varied his abilities but he use a kusarigama in the movie.

Sasuke got his sharingan, Sakura helped and Naruto met Tsunade, although it didn't really help anything.

Not sure what's coming next for an update, I may upload one of my new stories or update Different Beginnings.

Peace Out!


End file.
